Don't Touch the Wolfsbane
by Wenn Harmon
Summary: Meet Sallie Cartwright, a 6th year Gryffindor, with a knack for Potions. She is on a hunt to make a potion to cure Lycanthropy. Will it be worth the trouble, or is someone going to sabotage all that she worked for?
1. Prologue

_Welcome back everyone! It's nice to see you again! I hope you are well. So, here we are. Juicier and thicker than before. I hope it meets your expectations! Enjoy immensely!_

_Prologue_

When I was seven, I can recall sitting there in my room with James, crying. He was holding me, stroking my hair. We were never awkward with each other. Actually, I considered him more like a brother than my own brother David, still do as a matter of fact. I guess that's how close cousins can be when you grow up together.

I looked up and saw a girl with very dark hair and dark brown eyes looking at me, holding a small box of what looked to be sweets. She was wearing a dark grey dress that had small black polkadots on it and a little frill around the bottom. She took a breath.

"My mom said to bring this up to you," she whispered, holding out the box.

I sat up and wiped my eyes. James took the small box as I tried to make sense of her accent. It wasn't English, more drawn and laid back.

"You talk funny," I whispered back, not taking my eyes off of her.

She smiled awkwardly and giggled.

"So do you."

I chuckled softly. I had never heard an American accent before. James squeezed my hand before standing up and straightening his trousers. He held out his hand.

"I'm James Potter."

The girl held out her hand and shook it daintily.

"Dimitri Walburn."

"Walburn…," I pondered thinking as a tear rolled down my cheek. "Your parents were friends of my dad, right?" I gazed at her and sniffed.

James turned to look at me as Dimitri answered me.

"Yeah, from what they told me. They decided that they were gonna go ahead and come back to England."

"D'you want any tea or anything?" James asked, still looking at me. I was pretty sure he was only talking to me.

I opened my mouth to answer when Sirius Black, another cousin, came into the room and stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at the three of us.

"Your mum's looking for you," he said finally gazing at me. I stood up and straightened out my own dress, grabbing James' hand. He looked at Dimitri. "You a friend?" He was sometimes too blunt.

Dimitri shrugged.

"My parents were."

"Oh…" It took him a moment to register the accent. "American? Are you serious?"

James smiled, seizing this opportunity.

"No, her name is Dimitri."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at his friend.

I giggled as I sniffed back tears. Dimitri was clueless. I looked at her again and smiled.

"Thank you for the sweets."

"It's just chocolate."

James and Sirius laughed at her. I, on the contrary, rolled my eyes.

The next few years Dimitri and I became close. Whenever we would go over to Sirius' place, she and him would banter back and forth. Regulus, Sirius' younger brother, would watch from a distance.

I remember the first train ride on the Hogwarts' Express. The four of us shared a compartment, after James and Sirius were turned down by another one. I was sad when Dimitri had been sorted into Hufflepuff. In Gryffindor I met Lily Evans, a sweet girl with dark red hair and bright green eyes who was best friends with a Slytherin boy named Severus Snape.

Fifth year marked a strange point in my life. I became a Prefect, and then Professor Slughorn asked me to be in the Slug Club in which only a select few got invited. It was also when James and his friends began sneaking off all the time. This was when I decided to pull out my father's old Potions' journal and begin researching where he left off.

Dimitri would always wander into the library and find me at one of the far back tables with piles of big books around me. I wasn't studying for my O.W.L.s like I should have been. I was instead looking and noting every myth, legend, and fact about werewolves. Dimitri asked me what I was doing, but I shrugged her off. It wasn't until that summer in July when she came over, in tears herself, did I spill to her what was had happened when I was only six. James was the only one that had known by then.

My father, Gregory Cartwright, supposedly "killed himself" after my mother found out. My brother David and I had no idea what had happened. After looking through my father's journal, however, is when I began to see the truth of what had happened to him.

He had been working on something that was almost impossible. And it was only impossible because so many had failed. It was a cure for Lycanthropy: to cure those that had been bitten by a werewolf. To make it correct as his notes had suggested, would be a wondrous discovery. Making it would be a difficult and dangerous process. One small slip of something and I could possibly poison myself, as what Mother had said that Father had done.

In August before term began, Mother saw my O.W.L. results and reprimanded me over my Charms and Transfiguration marks. She then raided my room and found that I had procured Father's journal. Because of this she yelled and hollered at me, calling me a terrible excuse for a witch and a shame on the family. She started comparing me to my brother, which set me on edge even more so. I knew I couldn't go to Dimitri's house, knowing what her parents were up to. Instead I sent Lily an owl, receiving just two days later a yes to going over there for the last week of summer. And off I went….


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1. v.2_

September couldn't have come any sooner. I made myself at home at Lily's, getting a warm welcome. I told Lily about what had happened with Mum at the beginning of the week. She rolled her eyes and shook her head when I told her. I didn't, however, tell her about my marks, feeling a little ashamed. The week went by quickly and it became the night before term at last.

Lily and I sat in her bedroom, going over the last bits of homework we had. In front of us on the floor were some of our books.

"Alright, so," Lily said, picking up her Ancient Runes' book. "I do know this is all done" — she exchanged it for her Charms' book — "and this is too…. What, Sal? Why're you turning your nose like that?" She smiled, her green eyes glittering. "How'd you do on your O.W.L. for Charms? I remember you looked devastated after it."

I glared at her and the book in her hand.

"I think they gave me an Acceptable just to make me feel good."

Lily giggled, putting the book down, and picking up her Transfiguration book.

"That's not true!"

I made a face at her again when there was a knock at the door.

"Yes?" Lily asked.

The door opened slightly and Lily's blonde haired, horse-faced sister peered around the frame.

"Dinner's ready," she snarled, her blue eyes narrowing. "And no funny stuff. Vernon's here." And with that she closed the door.

"_'Vernon's here,'_" Lily mocked, copying her sister's tone. "You'd think that she thought I was out to get her or something."

I laughed as I stood up and straightened my skirt.

"I guess we attend dinner," I said as Lily stood up and pulled her long red hair back.

She only shrugged.

When we got downstairs, I finally got a sight of Vernon Dursley, Lily's sister Petunia's boyfriend. He was beefy and had a crop of dark hair on his head. He gave was a look as Petunia huffed under her breath. We sat opposite of them. I tried not to make eye contact with him for fear he would eat my soul or something.

The mood lightened some when Mrs. Evans put the roast beef on the table with all of it's helpings. I picked out the celery and put them on Lily's plate. She rolled her eyes but mixed them in anyway. It was becoming a custom.

"So," Mr. Evans said as he put salt on his food, "how was the Smelting's graduation? I'm terribly sorry that Mary and I couldn't attend." He looked at Vernon, who puffed up proudly. "Are you going to be attending University? Or do you have other plans?"

Vernon, still puffed, began talking about the graduation and his father's drill making company which he will be working for. Lily gagged under her breath. I snorted. Petunia glared at us both. I started to wonder then if Lily was fighting the urge to Levitate something and make it drop on Vernon's head.

Once Lily and I finished eating, however, we both excused ourselves from the table and left while Mrs. Evans explained to Vernon that "they're packing for school tomorrow."

"Can we believe that?" Lily asked when we reached her room and closed the door.

"Believe what?" I sat on the floor in front of our pile of books.

"Petunia is going to marry that oaf."

I dropped my jaw.

"You're not serious, are you?"

She smiled wickedly as she sat down across from me.

"I'm Lily, nimrod."

"Lily Nimrod, nice to meet you."

She hit me in the arm.

"Shut up," she laughed.

We began going through our books again and did a once over of all of our things and finished packing. I think there was an essay for History of Magic that we were supposed to do, but I could have been mistaken. Once all of our things were packed away in our trunks, I crawled into my sleeping bag, said good night to Lily as she turned off the light.

* * *

The next morning we were up and ready to go before seven o'clock. Mrs. Evans put Lily in a bad mood as she had asked on our way to the station why Severus hadn't been over at all during the summer. Lily huffed and said she didn't want to talk about it. I only sighed and looked out of the car window. We eventually reached King's Cross with thirty minutes to spare.

Lily and I rushed to the platform after saying goodbye to her mother. We got our trunks to the luggage car and then boarded the train. Lily began a hunt for a compartment as I walked to the front of the train to the Prefects' compartments.

I looked to see if I really wanted to sit up here, and decided that I would just find Lily and sit with her. It was going to be strange this year, I thought as I left the car and went searching for Lily. We usually sat with Severus.

I finally found Lily as the conductor came on the loud-speaker and told us all to find a place to sit as we were going to be heading out. The train whistled and slowly began to move. In the compartments, students were hanging out the windows, blowing kisses and yelling good-byes to their parents. I approached Lily, who was standing in front of a door, her arms folded across her chest. It looked as if she had just stopped.

James was leaning against the door, his black hair untidy as usual and his eyes beaming behind his glasses. Lily looked unimpressed.

He saw me before Lily did and smiled.

"Hey, there, Sal," he said, taking a hand out of his pocket to give me a one-armed hug. "I was just talking to Evans here."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"More like being obnoxious." She turned to look at me. "Are you not sitting up with the Prefects? I have a compartment down here."

I smiled as I nudged James.

"Okay. I'll be sitting with you."

"All right," she said giving me a smile and a glare to James. She turned on her heel and left the two of us standing in the corridor.

"Why won't she go out with me?" James asked as he watched her walk away and enter a compartment a few doors down.

"Because you're a twit," I answered, keeping my face straight. I heard a bark of laughter behind me.

"More like he doesn't understand women," Sirius Black joked.

I looked into the compartment, giving Sirius a look.

"_You_ don't understand women."

He laughed again.

"Hell right I don't! Your lot are so confusing."

I shook my head.

Remus Lupin chuckled under his breath, not looking up from his book, whereas Peter Pettigrew just laughed.

"Oh ha ha ha," I said, un-amused.

Sirius just grinned at me as James readjusted his glasses on his nose.

"How was your summer?" he asked.

"It's was all right. I stayed with Lily the last week. Couldn't stand being around Mother any longer. She was beginning to ask me when I was going to find a suitable pure-blood to marry. How about you?"

Sirius barked again as James smiled.

"Sirius ran out and took up shelter at my place this summer," he explained, giving Sirius a daring look.

"Aunt Dorea allowed him in the house?"

James nodded.

"Of course Mrs. Potter allowed me in!" Sirius puffed up. "Everyone loves me."

I rolled my eyes.

"I could name a few people who are not included in 'everyone'," I said, folding my arms and giving him my "Prefect" look as my friend Dimitri Walburn likes to call it. It's the look of "You-better-not-do-that-again-or-I'm-going-to-slip-poison-in-your-drink". I love the reaction it generally gets from younger students. Sirius, however, was unaffected by it.

"I think it's just you, Carty."

"Now, now, Padfoot, let's not start arguing about who loves you the most…," James said with a smirk.

Sirius matched his expression.

"But it's exciting."

James shook his head and turned back to me.

And yes, Mum let him in. They're all right with the idea of him staying. I mean, it's not like Mum and Dad are just going to let him live on the street or something."

Remus looked up from his book for the first time.

"He would do pretty well on the street, I reckon," he observed, giving Sirius a sly grin.

Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Speak for yourself, Moony."

Remus shrugged, putting his book down in his lap. He turned his attention to me.

"Don't forget we have to take the first years to the common room after the feast tonight."

"Okay," I nodded, knowing full well that I would have forgotten to do this small task.

He smiled at me.

"You'd forgotten, didn't you?" His grey eyes smiled up at me. My heart, for some reason, melted.

I nodded slowly, my mouth going dry. I just couldn't help but look at him.

"Well, yes, I did…. I guess it's because last year we didn't do it…."

He chuckled as James poked me on the shoulder.

I quickly turned to look at him.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said, a grin sweeping onto his face. "You just look a little pink, that's all."

"It's rather warm in here."

"Sorry," Sirius apologized.

I heaved a heavy sigh.

"Bye James. I'll talk to you later. I'm going to sit with Lily. Di's probably there, too."

He hugged me again before I left. I opened the door to Lily's compartment, happy to see Di and giving her a warm hug before sitting down and getting out my potions' book. I had a feeling that this was going to be an interesting term.


	3. Chapter 2

_You see? It **is** different than before. Enjoy it! (Sorry, it's short. This used to be part of the old Chapter 1.)_

* * *

_Chapter 2 v.2_

The sorting and the feast were just that: the sorting and the feast. We did have some new Gryffindors, which was nice. There was also a surprise for the sixth years as we acquired a rare transfer student who had been sorted into Ravenclaw before term began. Professor Dumbledore told us her name was Kat White, and we were to give her our full welcome and help whenever she were to need it. She had transferred from a school in the States, Levton Academy for Witches, a highly ranked witch academy in which one had to meet with higher standards to get into than to get into Beauxbatons. Curiosity flooded through everyone to see if she was sitting at the table, but I couldn't see anyone that I didn't recognize. Odd, I thought, shrugging at Lily, who was one of the few not checking the Ravenclaw table. A transfer student during a wizarding war?

After the feast, Remus and I stayed behind to gather the first years to show them up to the common room. I stood next to him, noticing that he had grown a few more inches since June. I felt my heart begin to pound as I motioned for the first years to follow us as Remus called out to them.

They ooh'd and awe'd at all the portraits. Climbing through the portrait hole was fun. One poor girl got stuck on her way in. Remus helped her through as her face turned bright red.

Remus took the boys up the boys' staircase. I stood with the girls at the bottom of the staircase.

"So, you may think that you can go up the boys' staircase, but here's a little bit of fun for us." I smiled as I motioned for them to go up the stairs. "This staircase will become a long slide if one of the boys climb only a few steps." This got a giggle out of them as I showed them their dormitory.

Once they were all in and settled, I went to my own and changed into my pyjamas and went to sleep.

The next morning, Lily and I sat in the Great Hall and began to compare schedules.

"Good we have the basics together," she said, looking from mine to hers. "Well, except I'm in N.E.W.T. Charms and Transfiguration."

I grimaced at that but let it slide anyway.

"Yes, and I have this teaching class and you have that odd one." I pointed to a class listed as _Wandering to Wonder_.

"It's an Ancient Rune's class, silly," she laughed, folding up her schedule and sticking it in her bag. "You know how much I love to search for hidden things."

How could I forget? She would purposefully put a Vanishing Charm on things just to go on the hunt to find them.

"Anyway, I forgot my book for that class in the dormitory. I'll see you in Potions, love!" With that she walked away, leaving me to go to Professor Talon's Teaching Methods class.

I was hoping that once I finished Hogwarts I would get the Potion's position after Professor Slughorn, the current Potion's teacher, retires. It may or may not happen, but I can always dream.

I had the class with Remus and Severus Snape, and a few other students as well. Professor Talon began the class with a syllabus and requirements he was going to expect of us while preparing to teach students. He told us that if we were to pass this class, we would go on in our seventh years to being assistants to our various teachers and help them.

After an hour of that, a few of us (Severus and two Hufflepuff girls) made our way to the dungeon for N.E.W.T. Potions. Remus didn't make the cut into the class. I shrugged as he gave me a sad look and turned to go to the library. Apparently he was weak in Potions.

Professor Slughorn was setting up a table with two cauldrons on it, each with its own set of ingredients. Professor Slughorn was a squat, little man with a large moustache that made him look much like a walrus. Today he was wearing navy blue robes that made him look even more like a walrus. I put my things down and sat next to Lily at her table.

"What d'you think is going on?" I whispered, looking cautiously at Severus as he walked in a took a seat next to Avery, a fellow Slytherin of his.

James and Sirius made their loud selves known as they came into the room. Professor Slughorn ignored them as he double checked that everything was in order. He stood off to the side and waited for everyone to get there. There were only maybe ten or fifteen of us here at the most. There was a strange blonde girl that I had never seen before, sitting with one of the Ravenclaw girls. Sirius said something to James who laughed as they looked at the two girls. Lily huffed under her breath.

"Welcome to N.E.W.T. Potions," Slughorn greeted once everyone had seated. "We will begin today with a fun little game." He smiled. "There are two students in here that scored the highest on their exams. And so, in celebration of it, I would like to give them a challenge."

James put a hand through his hair as if he thought _he_ was one of the two students. I snorted under my breath.

"The Potion they will be brewing is a quick, yet complicated solution," Slughorn continued, walked behind the cauldrons. "It is an Invisibility Potion."

Lily smiled and nudged my arm.

"I would like please for Severus Snape and Sallie Cartwright to step forward please."

I walked to the front of the class, my palms becoming sweaty. Severus stood next to me, his face blank. James and Sirius decided to make faces at him.

"You two will be given approximately fifteen minutes," Slughorn said, holding out a stop-watch. "Begin."

I picked up the recipe and read it through. He had given us only a vague recipe that had only what was needed and when to put it in. The quantities were not listed and only a small description on how to make it. He was testing Severus' and mine knowledge and abilities. I clenched my jaw as I worked, not really enjoying the idea of the class watching me.

Slughorn notified us when five minutes were left. By this point I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. My potion was beginning to turn a clear blue colour as I added a few drops of waning moon oil. My heart pounded excitedly as I took a look at the recipe and saw that it was supposed to do that. My memory served me right. Finally I looked at Severus. He didn't look as happy as I was. His potion was more opaque. He glared at me. I turned my head quickly and stared at my own…. If I really wanted to I could make my turn to pink….

"Time's up!" Slughorn called as his stop-watch rang out. He walked over to us as the class took in a breath, almost collectively. I looked at Lily, who winked at me.

Slughorn pulled out a jar of jam and siphoned some of Severus' potion onto it. The liquid sizzled on the top of the jar, making it turn from brass to a slight greenish colour. Sirius let out a laugh as James whistled. I rolled my eyes.

Slughorn patted a disappointed Severus on the shoulder and began to siphon some of my potion. He put it on the jar and slowly, from top to bottom, the jar disappeared.

James and Sirius gave a loud whooping noise.

I, however, felt ashamed. Severus swallowed hard and took his seat, he face pursed. I smiled, though, as Slughorn congratulated me, awarded Gryffindor twenty points. I took my seat next to Lily, who complimented me too.

I honestly couldn't believe that I had beaten Severus at a potion competition.


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3 v.2_

I avoided most of any sightings of Severus as the weeks rolled on by. There were a few times when he would attempt to talk to Lily, but she would grab my arm and dragged me off. I didn't blame her for not wanting to talk to him anymore, especially after what he did.

Finally, it was the beginning of October. Lily and I met up with Di after lunch to walk together just down the corridor for History of Magic. It had become a custom since we Gryffindors had history with the Hufflepuffs.

Di was the same height as I was, except her arms were a bit more built, even though she was still shapely. She was the star Beater on the Quidditch team, but she didn't really show it off. Her dark hair today had a blonde streak going down one side and a hot pink bow was sitting on the other. She always wore accessories with her robes, and I had learned a long time ago that the teachers ignored it because it was Di and she was a Hufflepuff.

The three of us halted in the corridor behind a large group of students. We weaseled our way through them, finally coming to the front. My heart dropped as Lily huffed and Di let out a sigh.

James and Sirius were standing around Severus. The two blockheads that are my unfortunate relatives were exchanging grins. Sirius was holding a tattered old book which I quickly recognized as Severus' potions' book.

"Well, what's it look like, Padfoot?" James called to Sirius as Severus quickly turned around. He fumbled in his robes to get his wand and a look of confusion swept over his face. Peter was standing a few feet from him, waving in the air what looked to be Severus' wand. Severus glared but looked back at Sirius, hatred filling his whole body.

"That is not your property, Black," he sneered.

Sirius grinned as he opened the book and began flipping through pages.

"Oy, Prongs! Lookie here!" Sirius exclaimed. "He's drawn a little heart with initials in it!"

Severus stiffened.

I looked at Lily, knowing what it was.

"Oh!" James called, taking out his own wand and poking Severus in the back with it. "Does someone have a fancy?" He laughed as Sirius and Peter burst out laughing too. Most of the students did as well.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward to say something, but was beaten to it by Professor McGonagall coming through the other side of the crowd.

"What is going on?" she asked, sternly looking at the boys. James instantly pocketed his wand.

"Nothing at all, Professor," James lied, giving Professor McGonagall a sweet smile. "Sirius here found Snape's book and was just giving it back to him."

Sirius nodded nonchalantly, handing the book back to Severus.

Professor McGonagall, however, saw through the lie.

"Detention, Potter. And Black." She turned to find Peter standing behind her, awkwardly holding Severus' wand. "You, too, Pettigrew. Be sure to report to Filch's office tonight after supper."

With that she shooed off all the students and made them hurry off to class.

James sighed once everyone had dispersed and Professor McGonagall closed the door to her own classroom. Severus turned and spat at James before storming off to the dungeons.

James took out his wand and used a spell to clean off his glasses. After putting them back on, he looked at Sirius.

"Whose initials were they, Padfoot?"

Sirius let out a back-like laughter, but before he could say anything, I stepped forward.

"Class, you three. Now."

Sirius looked at me, winked at James and walked into the classroom with Peter. Lily sighed, gave Di a look, and the two of them went in as well. I stayed out in the corridor with James, my arms crossed.

"What?" he asked tucking his wand back into his robes.

"Why d'you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Bothering Severus."

James laughed with a shrug.

"Dunno. Funny, I guess."

I rolled my eyes.

"Ha ha ha. I'm laughing so hard."

He made a face at me.

"You don't know how to joke, d'you, Sal?"

I gave him a half-shrug and eyed the classroom. He groaned and led the way into the room, only to be startled by Professor Binns floating through him.

Professor Binns was the only ghost professor at Hogwarts. It was said he died in the staff room and never realized it. He generally enters the classroom by floating through the blackboard and begins lecture right then and there. It was actually quite strange to see him in the corridor.

He stopped in front of me.

"Miss Carthridge, would you kindly go and inform Mr. Loony that if he isn't here in class today that he will possibly fail the exam in a few days' time?" He always got our names wrong.

I opened my mouth to talk, but James spoke for me.

"He's sick today, Professor."

Professor Binns turned around and peered at James.

"Mr. Porter, I didn't ask if he was sick or not. If he is sick he'll be in the hospital wing. Please take your seat."

James began to make an attempt to argue, but saw my face (through Professor Binns, mind you). He instead sighed, mumbled something under his breath and went to go take his seat in the classroom.

Professor Binns turned around and peered at me.

"Would you please go up to the hospital wing and inform Mr. Loony that if he doesn't procure an excuse slip he will be receiving detention."

I nodded as he turned around and floated back into the classroom.

I walked up the flight of stairs to the hospital wing. The corridors were quiet, which was good. I passed a few ghosts, that were talking to each other. I smiled as I walked passed them and opened the door to the hospital wing.

I walked in and saw Remus sitting on one of the beds farthest from the door, with Madam Pomfrey whispering to him. I took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in my throat as I approached. Madam Pomfrey didn't notice me as she walked around and left Remus to go into her office. Remus, however, was shocked to see me.

"Wha — What are you doing?" he asked. He looked extremely tired. His face was paler than usual and his eyes weren't glistening. He rubbed his temple as if he had a terrible migraine.

"Professor Binns said that if you aren't in class today, you might fail the exam in a few days, and you'll get a detention if you don't get an excuse slip," I explained.

He nodded slowly, looking down at the floor.

"What in the blazes?" came an angry yelp from Madam Pomfrey as she was coming back out of her office. "Just as bad as those boys! He's sick! Get!"

She quickly walked over to me and shooed me out of the hospital wing. I stood there, shocked, as the door slammed in my face.

I walked slowly back down to history, sat in my seat and stared Remus' desk. He was _always_ sick.

After class was lunch. I sat down with Lily and looked up and down the table. Something was wrong here….

"Where're the boys?" I asked when I realized it was quieter than usual.

She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and shrugged.

"Dunno. They left in a hurry after history, did you not notice?"

I gave her a quizzical look.

"I don't generally pay astute attention to them. Is there something you're not telling me — ?"

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Potter _kindly_ shoved me out of the way from the door — "

"Oh." I felt a little disappointed. I was kind of beginning to hope she would start seeing James differently. But then a voice popped in my head.

_She doesn't like James,_ it told me. _You know very well who she wants to have. She wants him, but since he's one of James' best friends, he's off limits. _

"No, that's not right," I whispered out loud to myself, shooing off the voice.

Lily stared at me.

"What's not right?"

"I was trying to do an Arithmancy problem in my head," I lied, giving her a cheesy smile.

She nodded, her face telling me that she didn't believe one word of it, but would accept it anyway.

After lunch we went to Defence Against the Dark Arts and listened to lecture about the latest attacks in the South. After that I had Arithmancy. And then finally a break before dinner. In this break, I held myself proper as I knocked on Professor Slughorn's door.

He opened it a little slowly at first and then much quicker when he realized it was me.

"Ah! Sallie! What a pleasure to see you at this time. Do come in, do come in."

I walked in, and he closed the door behind me. I had been in his office a few times before. It was a rather small room, with his desk and shelves all organized accordingly. He liked to keep momentums of several of his students that had gone off and done great things.

"And what brings you here today, Sallie?" he asked as he took a seat at his desk.

I sat down in a chair in front of the desk and folded my hands in my lap, twiddling my thumbs nervously, my palms getting a little sweaty.

"Professor, I was wondering if at all possible, if I could check out a dungeon?" I asked, unsure of how I asked it.

He chuckled.

"Check out a dungeon? I don't see why not. What will you be planning on doing?"

Better than I thought, I thought to myself, as I took my father's small and old leather journal out of my bag. I placed it on Professor Slughorn's desk. He picked it up and examined it a little, flipping through the worn out pages and the chicken scratch that was my father's. He stopped to read one page and then flipped to another and read it as well. And all the while, I was sitting there, my heart racing.

He handed it back to me when he had finished.

"These are some complicated potions," he said, resting his elbows on the desk and folding his hands together.

I nodded.

"And there was one he didn't finish. He told me that when I got old enough, if he didn't finish it, that I should."

Professor Slughorn thought a bit.

"Well, I have promise that you will be careful and will take care of everything," he finally said. He stood up and went to a cabinet and took out a key.

"This is the key to dungeon number seven," he said, handing me the old wrought iron key. "It is currently being used for storage, but I will see that in the morning, it will be ready for you. If you need anything more, just let me know. I will get a copy of my private stores' key and a key to Greenhouse Ten, if you need it." He beamed at me, his mouth forming a wide smile under it's huge moustache.

I was speechless. This had gone much better than I had hoped. I put the key into my pocket.

"Th-thank you, Professor!" I managed to get out as I lifted my bag back onto my shoulder, standing up.

"No worries, Sallie. I hope you the greatest of successes."

With that I said good-bye and thank-you one more time before I climbed the stairs to the entrance hall. I could not believe that he was giving me a whole dungeon. And by morning it will be mine to set up and do what I will with it. I took out Father's book out of my bag and clutched it to my chest. Oh, frabjous day!

The following morning I got up quickly and dressed and walked very quickly down to the dungeons, too excited to even attend breakfast. I walked one flight into the dungeons and found myself in front of the small door to seven. I took the key out of my pocket as if it was some precious gem, put it in the key hole, and turned it. The lock clicked and the door opened. My heart pounded as I looked into the small room. I wasn't expecting it to be as clean as it was.

Professor Slughorn, it seemed, had already made all the arrangements to clean and polish everything in this small dungeon. As far as I know, the dungeons passed five on to ten were only used for private studies, which was hardly ever done anyway. It was small, all right. There was a tiny window showing a view of the lake, giving the room natural lighting. There were already four cauldrons set, two rather small ones and two medium ones, on the table that was against the wall. There was another table/desk with a chair with a set of quills and ink and clean rolls of parchment. It was a potion maker's dream.

On the table there was a letter from Professor Slughorn with two small keys, one of which had a small ten inscribed in it. The Greenhouse key. I knew a few sixth years that would love to get their hands on this little baby. The letter only stated about the keys and if I had any questions or concerns, feel free to ask.

I squealed with happiness as I dashed out of the room, locked the door, and hurried up the staircase to tell Lily, Di, and James all about my new dungeon.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4 v.2_

"Okay. So, first we'll work on a Summoning Charm and then we will go from there," Lily said quietly.

I nodded.

It was two weeks later. Rain splashed the windows of the library as thunder boomed outside. It was a nice day to be in the library working on homework. Di was with us, working on an essay for history as Lily was giving me a tutoring lesson. We took a quiet table in the back of the library, so we wouldn't be disturbed.

"So, just a little flick of your wand like this — Good. Now. The incantation is _Accio_. Okay. Concentrate on this book here" — she grabbed one of Di's books off of the stack and place it on the opposite end of the table — "and once you're ready, just do it."

I took a deep breath and clenched my jaw.

"_Accio_," I said, flicking my wand. The book didn't move. I groaned.

"Try again," Lily said, smiling.

I tried. Again. And again. The fourth time I ended up making the book zoom across the table away from me and hitting the edge of a table. It fell on the floor and began squirming. Quickly, Lily got up and began to calm the book down by stroking it, whispering to it softly. I threw my wand on the table. Di gave me a look and put down her quill.

"I wonder why your wand doesn't listen to you," she speculated, looking from my wand to me.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Well, your wand just doesn't listen to you…. You did everything right…."

Lily came back, holding the book close to her chest, still stroking the back cover.

"It's still shaking. Poor thing…."

I sighed heavily.

"Do you think it's just my wand and not me?" I asked them both, but looking at the shivering book.

Di shrugged. Lily looked perplexed.

"The wand chooses the witch or wizard, remember?"

I sighed again.

"Yeah, well, maybe it chose me so I could do other things instead of focusing on wand work…."

"You've been talking to Slughorn again, haven't you?" Di asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

"Of course I have. I asked him just yesterday if there was any possible way I could have a dungeon to myself to work on a potion I have been working on in my spare time…."

Lily sat down across from me.

"Spare time? You have spare time?"

The glare I was getting from her was blinding.

"Yes, I do…."

"Okay! Let's look up your wand and see what's wrong with it!" Di chimed in, standing up and instantly calming the tension.

Lily gave me a look again as she nodded her head.

"I'll stay and protect the fort."

I stood up, turning to Di.

"Should we split up and look?"

"That would seem like the best course of action, yes."

I turned and walked down through a few rows of books, not knowing exactly what I was looking for. Wand lore wasn't heavily studied, and it was usually passed through apprenticeships or family. After about a few minutes of searching, I wanted to go and find Di when I saw Remus putting away some books. I swear my heart skipped a beat at that moment, which in itself was odd.

I walked towards him, actually noticing the height difference. I didn't pay much attention to this passed month, but he was definitely a good head taller than me.

"Hey," I said as I approached him, "d'you know where books about wands would be?"

He looked at me. He looked like he was thinking.

"Like… what do you mean? Just in general?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, urging my heart to stop racing.

"Wand lore."

"Oh… Hmm…." He looked around at the books on the selves around him and held up a finger with an "Ah" as he had a revelation on where to look. He motioned for me to follow him, which I did, to a shelf close to the Restricted Section. He scanned the shelf taking out a book and handing it to me. _Wands of Wood_ by A. J. Ollivander. It was very old and battered.

"Ollivander," I chuckled softly under my breath.

"Would that help?" he asked, still looking through the titles on the shelf.

"Yeah…."

I opened the book and flipped through it, scanning for willow. Eventually I found it. Remus came around and peered into the book.

"Willow? I'm assuming you're looking up your wand?"

I nodded, reading the page:

_Willow is an uncommon wand wood with healing power, and I have noted that the ideal owner for a willow wand often has some (usually unwarranted) insecurity, however well they may try and hide it. While many confident customers insist on trying a willow wand (attracted by their handsome appearance and well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic) my willow wands have consistently selected those of greatest potential, rather than those who feel they have little to learn. It has always been a proverb in my family that he who has furthest to travel will go fastest with willow._

This wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I thought to myself, tapping my finger on the page. According to this, in context, willow wood is powerful, and quite useful; though, I already knew about it's healing properties. Remus had that perplexed look on his face as he finished reading it.

"Is there a book on cores?" I asked.

"There should be…." He turned to look again at the shelf as I put the book back. He pulled out another book, a smaller one, that was titled _Wand and Core Properties_ by J. "Jax" Sanders. I opened it, hoping that there will be something about my wand core in here.

I got lucky. After several pages, I found it:

_As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner._

_The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental._

I could tell by Remus' face he was suppressing laughter. I glared, closing the little book and handing it back to him.

"My wand just fails."

"It's got some promise, though. You could work on your Transfiguration…."

I dropped my jaw.

"And exactly what d'you mean by that, Mr. Lupin?"

He smiled awkwardly, half-shrugging his shoulders.

"That maybe you could work on it a bit more?"

I rolled my eyes.

"There you are!" Di's voice rang in a loud whisper. "I couldn't find anything. Oh, hi, Remus."

He nodded curtly to her. I could feel the awkward levels rising a bit more.

"Remus found the books. It turns out that I pretty much should go see Ollivander next summer and talk to him about it."

"Her core is best when used with another core," Remus pointed out as he put the book back.

"Ooooh, ok. I didn't know that some wands needed two cores…."

"Neither did I," I confessed with a shrug.

"It could have been something that Ollivander was experimenting with." He chuckled again softy. "I mean, you do like to experiment, don't you?"

I looked up at him.

"Only sometimes," I joked, putting my hands on my hips.

He laughed at this and then sighed.

"I have to get back to work or Pince will have my head."

I nodded.

"Okay. Thank-you, again, Remus."

He smiled down at me.

"Anytime, Sallie."

He walked away. I stood there with Di, my heart beginning to beat again it seemed. I really liked the way he said my name. It's odd how before this year, I just thought of him as one of James' friends.

Di gazed at me as if she was reading my mind.

"You look like you're Petrified or something," came her voice from a distance.

I nodded slowly, walked around some bookshelves to watch him.

"And you're being creepy. C'mon, Sallie. Back to homework and the real world."

She grabbed my arm and dragged me across the library back to the table, where Lily was still stroking the poor book.

"So, what did you find out?" she asked in a hush tone.

"That my wand would be good for something if it just didn't want to suck," I answered, putting it on the table.

Lily looked down at it.

"That sucks. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It happens."

"What Remus said was that Ollivander might have been experimenting with this wand combination," Di said, looking at me and then back to Lily. "Sal does like to experiment."

This got a laugh out of Lily.

"Isn't that the truth?"

I wrinkled my nose as she giggled.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5 v.2_

Even with the knowledge that my wand just outwardly sucked, I still couldn't muster any want or desire to practice Charms work. Lily was getting annoyed with my nonchalant wants since that could also be the reason why I don't do too well in there, since I really don't care enough. Lily told me I should, but Di shrugged it off as she had started Quidditch practice the week before Halloween, which meant I wasn't going to be seeing her much anymore. At least I had the feast to look forward to….

"Slug Club party on Halloween, remember?"

I put down my knife and turned to Lily.

"You're joking?"

We were in my dungeon. I had begun cutting some willow bark into fine pieces. In one of the medium cauldrons I already had some dried and finely chopped larkspur blossoms brewing. Larkspur was one of the two highly poisonous flowers I was using in this potion. The other was Wolfsbane. I had to be extremely careful with both plants. I acquired the larkspur from the greenhouse. Professor Getty, the Herbology teacher, actually gave me a Wolfsbane plant that just grew some new buds. The lower flowers were beginning to blossom, their yellow petals peaking through the green.

"No…. Why would I be joking?" She grinned. "Got plans?" she asked coolly with a wink.

"No, no plans."

"Oh," she said, seeming upset with my answer. "So no one to go to Hogsmeade with either?"

"Nope."

I dropped the willow bark into a simmering cauldron and stirred it around some as the bark pieces floated to the top of the water. I stirred in some mugwort, watching the colour go from a opaque to a slight yellow.

"Well, why not?"

I shrugged, turning down the heat of the burner.

"There's no one I would like to go with."

"Right…."

_Knock knock knock._

I looked at the door and glanced at Lily, who looked confused, but stood up anyway and answered it. She opened it all the way, showing a hand inside as James stepped in.

"I didn't know there was a party going on down here," he joked, giving Lily a wink. "How come I wasn't invited, Evans?"

"No boys allowed," Lily sneered.

I laughed.

"What do you need, James?" I asked, putting a lid on the cauldron.

"Just to see what you're up to down here, that's all."

I turned to look at him and took off my gloves. His hair was messy as usual, but there was a different glint in his eye that I couldn't figure out. I put my hands on my hips.

"And what exactly do you think I'm doing down here?"

He smiled slyly.

"Nothing _illegal_."

"Oh, hush. You do illegal things all the time. So don't tell me no."

His raised his eyebrows.

"Anyway, guess what?"

"What?" I asked, shooting a look to Lily before turning around and organizing the table.

"I have a date on Saturday."

I nearly dropped my knife. I turned around to look at him, my jaw dropped.

He stood there, grinning from ear-to-ear. I couldn't help but think he was only telling me this here and now because Lily was there to listen. Or it could also mean that he had given up on Lily and he was finally moving on. Either way, it felt rather rude. But I smiled anyway.

"That's great, James! Who is it?"

His grin didn't waver in the slightest.

"Anya Fredrikson," he said, holding his chin up high.

Behind him, Lily rolled her eyes.

"Great, someone to boost your ego even more, Potter."

He ignored this remark.

"Just thought I'd come down and tell you, that's all," he told me, turning to the door. "Don't blow up the whole school."

Lily rolled her eyes again as he left. I made a face and started to clean up.

"He's so annoying…. I'm sorry," she added as I stifled a laugh, "I know he's your cousin and all…."

"Yeah, well, he is very annoying."

This got a laugh out of Lily.

I put a lid on the cauldron with the yellow liquid, and then stowed my journal and things back into my bag. I locked the door with the key. Then Lily put a charm on the door so no one could even pick the lock if they tried to. We headed back up to the common room, careful to avoid the prying eyes of Severus as we walked through the dungeons.

The week went by slowly. Classes, homework, and more classes. The occasional Slug Club meeting. Thursday I had a free period in the afternoon, which meant I was done by lunch. I decided that instead of using the time in the dungeon, since there really wasn't anything really going on, I sat on the sofa in the common room, my Potion's book in my lap, writing in it.

Lily must have had a free period, too, since she came storming into the common room. Some of the other Gryffindors looked at her as she came and plopped herself down next to me on the sofa, slouching back with her arms folded across her chest.

"Severus ask you out or something?" I asked, not looking up from my book, keeping my face straight and serious as I made an ill-attempt at a joke.

"He was snogging her. I can't believe it!" she huffed, not listening to me. "He was just standing there, in the view of anyone who would walk past, _snogging_!"

"Er — who?"

"And then he had the nerve to look up at me and wink because I stood there just staring them down. They shouldn't even been doing that in the corridor. For one thing, it's rude."

"Who're you talking about?" I asked sticking my pen in my book to mark my place, looking at her.

She sighed and slumped even more into the couch. She was making no sense.

"Lil, who are you mad at? Who was snogging who?" I finally asked again.

She looked over her shoulder to make sure we were alone.

"_Him_."

"I get it. But who is he?"

I heard the portrait open and heard James talking to Peter.

" — and I think it will be fun, y'know?"

Peter laughed.

"I just can't believe she said that she'd go out with you!"

"That was like last week, Wormtail," James chuckled.

I looked over at Lily. Her face was red. I then looked over and saw the two of them stop as they saw me looking at them.

"Hey! Sal! Guess what?" James asked me, excitedly, coming over and leaning over the couch. "I finally snogged Anya. And, damn, was it wonderful. Right in the corridor. Hey there, Evans!" With that he slapped the back of the sofa and left with Peter, laughing, up to the dormitory.

Lily grunted. It hit me hard like stone.

"You!" My eyes widened. "What? Since when? Why?"

"I dunno," she mumbled. "It just sort of hit me. I saw them and… well… yeah…."

I sat there, stunned. It began to all make sense. She wasn't giving him that annoyed look in class because he was being annoying. She was looking at him because she must have thought he was good looking. It also explained why that anytime I would ask her about it, she'd get angry and tell me she didn't like him. I should have known better, being a girl myself, that that always meant the opposite.

The next day went by normally, with the exception of Lily avoiding James and his new girlfriend Anya, whom Lily became obsessed with quickly.

"She even looks like me!" Lily pointed out when we saw them holding hands in the entrance hall looking at the news board. I didn't really think so. She had brown hair that was cut in an inverted bob and her face was thinner. The only thing I could point out was height. That was pretty much it. I told Lily so. She only glared, telling me that I was wrong. Yeah, I was only wrong if Lily wanted to cut her hair again and change the colour. Rolling my eyes, I let her complain and rant about it all the way to Potions.

Saturday morning, I woke up and got dressed to go to Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, it was raining outside. Lily was up and sitting on her bed still in her nightgown.

"Are you not going?" I asked as I pulled a black sweater over my head.

"No. I don't want to see them all over each other."

I put my hands on my hips and stared her down.

"You don't have to watch them."

She sighed.

"I know, I just don't want to _see_ them together, that's all."

"Get dressed," I commanded. "I'm making you go."

She scrunched her nose as she got up and began getting ready. I left her telling her that I'll be down in the Great Hall. She grunted as I walked out the door.

The entrance hall of full of the students going to Hogsmeade. I spotted James with his new girl, his arm around her shoulder and talking to her. I saw Sirius and Di bantering as usual a few yards away. I smiled and walked over to them.

" — you're on, Black. I do hope you know you will lose this challenge," Di said, her hands on her hips and staring Sirius down.

Sirius let out his bark-like laughter.

"I'm not going to let myself lose to you any day, Wally."

She sighed heavily as she looked over at me.

"Tell him he'll lose to me," she demanded, staring back up at Sirius.

"You're going to lose to her," I said, giving Sirius a half-shrug.

He growled as he walked away to Peter and Remus, un-amused.

"Hell, he'll be sorry when he loses to me," Di laughed as I watched Lily push through some third years and joined up.

The three of us then got our names checked off the list Filch was holding and got on the carriage to Hogsmeade.

We did our usual trips at first, going to Honeyduke's and loading up on sugar quills and liquorice wands. Oh, how I love liquorice. I picked up a few chocolate frogs to hopefully get some new cards. Lily bought some Bertie Bott's for us all to blindly eat them one at a time when we got into the Three Broomsticks. Di bought some cauldron cakes and once we were settled with our purchases, made our way to the Three Broomsticks.

It was bustling today since it was a cool and damp day outside. We found ourselves a table. Lily got out the Bertie Bott's as I went and got us some butterbeer.

I came back to find Di making a face as she spat out a grey bean.

"Black pepper," she said, scrunching her nose, gagging.

"At least it wasn't vomit," Lily joked, keeping a straight face.

I laughed as I put out butterbeers on the table. Di instantly grabbed her and took a giant gulp of it.

I sat down next to Lily, grabbing a handful of beans.

"Are you really-?" she began to ask as I popped them all in my mouth at once. The mixture of flavours was dreadful. There were some grass and dirt flavoured ones mixed with cherry and blueberry. Quite interesting. I down some butterbeer after I swallowed the horrendous mixture.

Di laughed at me as she stood up.

"Sirius is there at the bar," she said, looking in that direction. "I'm going to beat him."

"Do it!" I exclaimed, hoping that I wasn't going to be sick.

Lily giggled.

"Good luck, Di."

We watched her approach Sirius at the bar, who slammed his fist down with a grin. He had called up the first round.

"She's going to need it," Lily said, turning back to look at me. Then her face scrunched as she looked across from us. In a corner table, James and Anya were locking lips together as if they needed each other's life force.

Lily made a gag noise as she stared at her butterbeer.

"That's so disgusting."

I didn't say anything because I was happy that my cousin had finally gotten himself someone else to fancy besides Lily. I only smiled as I drank my own butterbeer, occasionally peering over at the bar where Sirius and Di were downing one shot after another.

After some time, Sirius' face began to go pale as he took one last shot before getting up quickly from the bar and running to the restroom. Lily tried to control her laughter as she and I got up to congratulate Di on her victory, only to find that since Sirius ran to the restroom, Di felt she could go to. I followed her as Lily got a glass of water for Di if and when she was going to need it.

In the restroom, Di shut herself in a stall and began vomiting. In between sputters, she mumbled for me to not tell the boys she ended up puking. I sighed as Lily set the glass of water on the floor in the stall. Lily and I exchanged pathetic looks as Di slowly walked out of the stall, sipping on the water. Her skin was so pale it was making her already dark hair look darker.

"Please," she pleaded again as she went to go rinse out her mouth, "don't tell them."

"Ok."

"Promise."

Di managed a small smile before taking another sip of the water.

"D'you just want to go back up to the castle? I think I want to…."

"Sure," Lily said stepping to the door and holding it open. "I was starting to get really bored and annoyed of Potter."

I laughed as Di looked confused, but we left the bathroom anyway to find Sirius at a table with James, Peter, and Remus, with his head down and James rubbing his back.

Remus was telling him something as Peter looked a little upset. I saw that Anya had gone up to the bar to get Sirius a drink. I heard Lily scoff as she quickly walked to the door and stepped out into the drizzle. Di sighed and walked over to Sirius and held out her hand.

"Good try there, Black," she said as he peeked through his hair up at her.

He grunted but wiggled a hand out to shake hers.

This must have satisfied her in some way because she squared her shoulders and followed Lily out. I gave James a sad look and followed suit as well.

We made it up to the castle before the sky opened up, which was good because Filch was standing in the hall just waiting for someone to walk in and trail mud throughout the castle.

Di hugged the two of us and said she was going back down to her dormitory to sleep until the feast. So we parted, and Lily and I headed up to the common room, to sort out our goodies since they had gotten all mixed up when Lily had shoved them into a bag.


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6__ v.2_

Lily and I got ready for the Slug Party. Needless to say, regardless that Professor Slughorn was one of my favourite teachers, I had always thought the Slug Parties to be a bit of a bore. Lily seemed to enjoy them since she got to be more of a social butterfly. She reassured me that this year's party wasn't going to be as boring as last year's. Scrunching my nose, I made my way down to the common room, followed by a laughing Lily.

We stopped to find James, Sirius, and Peter heckling Remus about something that was certainly funny, since they were all laughing. Lily blew air out of her nose furiously as Sirius turned to us as if we were rabbits.

"Hey, girls! C'mere!" he called.

"Why?" Lily answered back, folding her arms across her chest, giving him a dirty look.

Peter laughed as Remus rolled his eyes, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

"C'mon, Sal. We don't have time to dilly-daddle," Lily voiced angrily seizing my arm and dragging me out of the common room.

"They're such idiots," she growled as we made our way to the dungeons.

I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah…."

"And picking on Remus like that… Ugh…"

We walked into classroom four where a long table with chairs was set out. There was food adorning the table and a place-card for us to sit. Lily and I had seats next to one another. Regulus Black was on the other side of me.

I kept quiet during most of the Slug Party, joining in small conversations here and there, until half-way through dessert Slughorn had asked me how progress was going on my potion.

"It's going well, Professor." I smiled curtly, giving Lily a glance as she shoved ice cream into her mouth.

"You're working on a potion?" Kevin Procterson asked me. He was sitting in front of me, all of his dark silky hair and dimples. His blues eyes shone as he smiled at me, apparently impressed with my endeavours.

"Yes, I am," I answered, trying not to sound cold, but failing to do so. Lily almost choked on her ice cream. It was a well-known secret that Kevin has had a fancy for me for a while now. I thought he was an arrogant bastard.

He nodded but dropped the subject, which was a relief to me. I didn't really want too many people asking questions. Didn't want him to ask too many questions.

I ate my ice cream in silence, glancing up every now and then to see Kevin looking at me. I rolled my eyes and was thankful when Slughorn bade us good night. Lily and I got up and were starting to head to the door when someone grabbed my arm.

I swung around, ready to snap at Kevin, only to find it was Regulus.

His brown eyes widened as he saw my exasperated face.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he apologized, giving Lily and I looks.

"It's alright," I said as we left the room to stand in the corridor. Lily folded her arms across her chest. Being around someone who talks to Severus makes her uneasy nowadays.

"Can I ask you something, Sal?"

I gave Lily a look as she huffed, but she took my look as what it was and walked off to wait for me a little ways down the corridor. I looked back up at Regulus.

"What?"

He shifted uneasily, chewing on his bottom lip.

"D'you…d'you know if there is anything going on between Dimitri and Sirius? Like, anything official?"

I had to laugh.

"What d'you mean? Like, them dating or something?"

He nodded slightly, looking away from me.

"Heaven's, no. I just think Sirius likes to keep her around. Or Di likes to keep him around…. Actually, to be honest, I don't know what's going on between the two of them…."

He nodded again, a sad look enveloping his face. But he wiped it away clean before I could figure what was going on.

"Thanks anyway," he said. He turned towards the dungeons. I shrugged his unusual behaviour off and met up with Lily.

"What was all that about?" she asked as we climbed the stairs.

"I dunno. He asked me about Sirius and Di, as if there's something there…."

"Is there? I mean, between those two? I had been wondering for a while, but I don't mingle with Black, Di" —

"— doesn't talk about it," I finished for her.

We reached the portrait hole and entered the common room, to find once again, James, Sirius, and Peter still heckling Remus, after an hour and a half.

Lily huffed.

"What part of leave him alone don't you understand?" she snapped at them. I stood behind her, imagining where this was all going to go.

James grinned.

"He slipped," he said, giving Remus a punch in the arm, whose face turned a bright shade of pink.

"Slipped?" Lily asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yep!" Sirius barked, winking at Peter.

"So, who is she, Moony?" Peter asked, looking up at Remus.

I clenched my jaw, feeling my face get hot.

"I… No," Remus muttered, shaking his head really fast as if he was trying to get water out of his hair, his face getting redder and redder.

"C'mon, Moony," Sirius egged. "Just tell us."

"Drop it, you guys," Lily snapped again.

I couldn't help but stare at Remus. He was looking away, annoyed that his friends were getting into his business. My heart pounded. I wanted to know who he wanted to pursue, but then, I didn't want to know.

Lily stood in front of me, glaring at James will all of her fury. James only grinned and looked over her shoulder at me.

"D'you wanna know, Sal?" my cousin asked, those hazel eyes that mirrored my own, staring at me.

"No."

I swallowed hard and turned away. Without thinking, I let my feet take me out of the common room. By the time I was out in the hall, I broke into a run. I ran until I found a small broom closet, went in and blocked the door with an old chest that was in there, rattling one of the doors opened. Paying it no mind, I sat in the dark in the corner, my blood boiling. It hurt to see them egging Remus on, and then coming to find that Remus had a fancy for someone….

"No doubt who," I whispered angrily, sniffing back a tear. Why the hell was I crying?

"Who?" someone asked quietly.

My eyes weren't quite adjusted to the dark, but I saw a form materialize in front of me. I wiped tears out of my eyes and looked at the figure that towered over me. I couldn't make out the silhouette, but I recognized the young man's voice.

I stood up slowly, holding the wall for balance. The young man silhouette was barely coming into focus now as my eyes adjusted to the lack of lighting in this closet. His hands were in his pockets and he was slouched to the side.

"So, what're you doing in here?" he asked, his voice cool and collected.

"N-nothing," I said, trying to hold myself together. I was trying to figure how someone could get in here; I had blocked the door.

"Nothing? It seems to me you're in here crying. How come?" His voice was not sincere, but a sneer. A nasty sneer if I might add.

He became clearer and clearer as my eyes adjusted finally. I began to recognize the thick hair that, given better lighting, would be a soft brown. His eyes would be the colour of the moon, that clear silvery colour with some darker shades. He would have some scars on his face. A few freckles, not much. How the hell did Remus get in here?

"Wh-what are you"— I started to ask, but he interrupted me.

"— doing here?" he finished. I could hear the smirk in his voice. "The same reason I guess as you are. Hiding."

"Hiding?"

There was a moment where I think he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, _Sallie_, hiding." The sarcasm could slice through a piece of bread.

There was a long silence inside. Outside I could hear a bustle of activity. They must have followed me and Remus here... Wait... when I left the common room, Remus was in there….

As I stood up against the wall thinking, his breathing told me he was getting agitated and annoyed. Yet, when I heard his voice, it was on the other side of the door.

"Sallie! Open the door!"

I swallowed, trying to make sense of it all. How could Remus be in here with me and out there?

"No one likes you, Sal," the Remus inside said. "I certainly don't."

"What?" I was taken aback by this remark,. My heart continued bounding in my throat. None of this made sense at all.

"The only thing you're good at is Potions. And what good will that do you? Hmm? At least Lily is great at everything. She's even prettier than you are…" If I could see his face properly, there would have been a twisted grin to that. I felt myself get hot and angry. "She's probably a better kisser than you…."

He laughed. It wasn't Remus's usual laugh, but a cold, darker one.

My heart throbbed. Outside there was some mumbling, but he continued.

"I don't understand why Prongs even bothers. He'll never have the chance. It's the only reason I'm even remotely nice to you."

I closed my eyes, holding back more tears. This really wasn't happening to me.

"You think I'd want to date you?" he sneered, as if reading my mind. "HA! I wouldn't date you if you were the last woman on earth. Wouldn't dream of it."

The tears fell. He laughed.

"Sal!" came outside Remus, his fist banging on the door. "Open it!"

"I c-can't!" I cried as Inside Remus got quiet.

"Who's in there?" came Sirius' voice. There was a small pause. "Move! I'm going to blast it."

"NO!" I screamed as there was a loud explosion. I covered my head as the door swung off the hinges and was blasted away. I looked up, covered in pieces of door and other things. Inside Remus had his eye on Sirius who was standing confused. He was looking from Inside Remus to Outside Remus.

"What the —" he started but there was a pop and Inside Remus was gone and in his place was Di, her face angry as she started snapping at Sirius for cheating on her with Kat. I was taken out of the closet by Lily, trying to make sense of it all.

Sirius stood stiff, whimpering like a scared puppy as Di yelled at him.

"But... but... but..." he mouthed at her, looking over at James for support. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Of course you don't!" Di snapped, her eyes full of fire. "But since you have this lovely thing going on with her, I might as well just start hanging all over Reg."

"Sirius...," James said slowly, approaching his friend, as Sirius' fear turned to anger.

"What?" Sirius nearly bellowed.

"That's not Di."

Sirius looked at James, his anger turned to confusion.

James pulled out his wand and pointed it at Di's form.

"_Riddikulus_!"

With a small pop, Di was wearing roller skates. She panicked as she lost her balance and fell on the floor. She looked over at James, who was still holding his wand out at her.

"Go find some place else to hide," he threatened. He shot a hex at her, but she was gone with a pop.

"Where d-did she go?" I asked, holding onto Lily's arm with all my might. I was so embarrassed. The tears came on again, much harder than before. James came over and took me from Lily.

"Probably some place dark. It was a boggart. Guess you must've disturbed it...," he explained, looking at me then to Remus, giving him a shrug.

Remus looked away, his face flushed. Sirius and Lily stared at him as he turned on his heel and walked away. I dug my face into James, however, as rubbed my arm.

I didn't see Lily run after Remus. Sirius, though, followed as James escorted me up to his dormitory.

He sat next to me on his bed. Peter watched us as James bit his lip, adjusting his glasses.

"So, what happened?" he asked, quietly, looking at us.

Sirius shrugged, but motioned for Peter to follow him out. Peter obeyed, getting up off of his bed and following Sirius out of the dormitory, mumbling something about a boggart. He was probably going to give him a small elapse of what happened.

"What was that all about?" James asked quietly, looking out the window by his bed.

I shrugged, clenching my jaw.

"Huh."

"I don't know, James," I said quietly. "I was just upset..."

"So you ran off and hid in a closet?"

He turned to look at me.

"There was more to it..."

"So, you're afraid of Moony? I thought you fancied him."

I opened my mouth and closed it again, not knowing what to say.

"I – I'm not afraid of him. How did you know I...? " I answered, looking down at my lap, a tear falling onto my skirt.

"Fancied him?" He laughed. "It's quite obvious. You don't look at him anymore when you talk to him and you get nervous. Dunno if he's noticed, but I have. The only thing he's said that going on rounds with you has been strange."

"Whaddya mean?" I looked at him, genuinely confused. The only thing I had noticed about rounds was that Remus was just as quiet as he generally was. Nothing different. I did get him to talk on occasion... Actually, he had seemed quieter than usual.

"I dunno. He doesn't talk about that much, y'know? And whenever we ask, he shuts himself in."

I sighed, wishing I wasn't having this conversation.

"Have you asked him?"

With this James smiled.

"What d'you think we've been teasing him about? He let it slip earlier that there was someone he fancied, so we've been trying to figure it out. I have a hunch..."

"It wouldn't be me, anyway," I said before he could finish his thought.

"Why not?" he asked, looking at me over his glasses before readjusting them again. "Why wouldn't Remus like you?"

"Because he thinks I'm afraid of him!"

Tears fell down my cheeks as James sighed and wrapped his arm around me.

"I'm pretty sure he knows there must be more to it…."

The door crashed open. James and I both looked over to find a pale Remus standing there, staring. He instantly looked away and went over to his bed, sat in it and pulled the curtains. Lily was standing there in the door, her face full of worry. I stood up, giving James a look. He nodded as if he understood what the look meant. I left the dormitory, avoiding Lily. She followed me down the stairs where we were greeted by Sirius and Peter at the bottom, the two of them looking concerned.

"Is everything okay?" Peter asked quietly to Sirius as I began to climb the stairs, ignoring Lily's assessments to talk.

"Dunno…," I heard Sirius respond before turning the corner to our dormitory. Lily grabbed my arm and turned me to face her. Her green eyes looked at me with compassion.

"Sal…."

"I don't need your sympathy, Lily," I snapped, looking away, trying and succeeding in yanking myself free.

I went into the dormitory and laid down in my bed without even changing. Lily walked in slowly after me. She and Mary began whispering about what had happened. I rolled over and silently cried myself to sleep.

_I hope you liked it… again, even if you've read it before. Obviously it's different and there will be a new chapter between this one and the next one that I posted at the beginning of the summer. And then I will be caught up. :D Please let me know what you think! Thanks!_


	8. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7_

My free time for the next few days was spent down in the dungeon, revising notes and making sure I was doing everything correctly. I was avoiding pretty much every single element of Remus, who wouldn't look at me or talk to me. As awkward as things were between he and I, he was spending more time with Lily, which boiled my blood even more.

When I was finished with some revisions, I locked my dungeon door and made my way up the stairs to the Great Hall for dinner. I took a different seat than usual, a little further down from Lily, especially further from Remus. I began to help myself to some chicken when Di came and sat next to me.

"What's up?" she asked, helping herself to some food.

I shrugged, paying no mind to her sitting here.

"Just a little perturbed."

"Perturbed?"

"Mhmm." I took a sip of my pumpkin juice.

"I got the summary of Halloween, by the way," she whispered, despite the chatter of the hall.

"Really?" I looked over at her. Her brown eyes were highlighted today with a soft pink.

"Really," she nodded, eating a chip.

I looked down at my plate and grimaced.

"Who said anything?" I asked.

"Lily gave me a brief summary of it all. She didn't go into detail," she added quickly when she saw my face. "She did say that she would like to talk to you, but you're not talking to her, I see." She looked down the table at where Lily was sitting with Mary and then back at me. "Boggarts are scary things…."

"Yeah." I nodded slowly, picking up my fork and poking at my food. "More like heart-wrenching things…."

"I'm assuming it talked to you?" she asked with a faraway look in her eye that I didn't feel like questioning.

"It did. Told me a lot of what Mother was telling me over holiday…. And then some other things, of course."

She bit her lip.

"That's something. Afraid you're not going to make it in the world?"

I cracked a smile. She put an arm around me in a one-armed hug.

"Everything will be okay, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded as she pecked my cheek.

"I'm going back to my table now." She glanced down at Sirius. "He's watching me again, the bastard."

I sent a glare down to Sirius, my eyebrows raised. Once Di got up and went back to the Hufflepuff table, I finished my food and headed up to the common room with the rest of the crowd going to their common rooms.

Once I got up to the tower, I felt a tap on my shoulder to see none other than Remus standing there, his face expressionless.

"We have rounds tonight, by the way," he said as James, Sirius, and Peter behind him went into the common room.

"Oh, we do?"

He sighed.

"Yes, we do."

I nodded as he turned around and I followed him. My heart was racing with anxiety. He had sounded annoyed.

Last year rounds were fun. I had enjoyed the few times a month to wander the castle after hours to tell students to go to bed before lights' out at ten. Remus was always fun to walk around with as well. He seemed to know the castle inside and out. Sometimes he and I would go down to the kitchens and get snacks to take back up to the common room. I had a feeling though that rounds this night were going to be quiet and awkward.

After telling about five students to go to bed, we walked past a portrait of the night sky. I stopped and looked at it, the odd feeling that I was forgetting something again building in my stomach. It did remind me.

"Did you finish the Astronomy homework that's due tomorrow?" I asked quietly and slowly, going through my mental archives to see if I had done it. I glanced at Remus, who looked perplexed. He glanced at the floor in deep thought. When he looked back at me, he looked concerned.

"That's due tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's the sixth, right?" I asked rubbing my hands together nervously.

When it hit him, he gave me a slow nod.

"It _is_ due tomorrow."

We both looked at each and then darted to the common room. I ran up and got my bag and stuffed my Astronomy things into it. My star chart was no where near finished. I huffed as I swung it over my shoulder and ran back down. It dawned on me right then who I was going to be working with and I tried to control my anxiety. Remus was going to be doing his homework with me… up in the Astronomy tower…. I urged myself to calm down as he met me in the common room.

He was talking to James, who gave him a friendly punch in the arm and a wink. Remus turned a slight shade of pink when I approached them. I remained calm.

"Have fun doing your homework, _Prefects_," James chuckled merrily, turning away and going up to the dormitory.

I watched him walk away, glaring.

"C'mon, before you kill him," Remus muttered.

I followed Remus out of the common room and up to the Astronomy tower where we settled with our books open and our charts in our laps. I stole a look at Remus's chart as he flipped pages in his book. Never thought I'd see the day when Remus Lupin hadn't done his homework.

"Are you going to be able to finish that?" I asked, several minutes later, breaking the silent of the night. Except that this silence was actually tense and awkward.

He sighed as he placed a star on the chart.

"I hope so. I just can't believe that I didn't do it…."

I smirked as I picked up my telescope, shielding my left eye to see without the moon in it.

"Turning into me," I joked, really trying to lighten the mood a bit.

He chuckled softly.

"That would be a dreadful thing," he said.

We worked some more in silence. I was mentally mad that the moon was almost full and that I should have done this work a few nights ago when the moon wasn't as bright and obnoxious. I shivered and yawned more than once. I was also mad at myself for not bringing my cloak up. Apparently, in the heat of the moment, I had forgotten that November was cold. At night. On a tower. Dramatic irony.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, and when I looked over to see if it was Remus, he was gone and then something warm draped over my shoulders. I looked up behind me and watched, astounded, as Remus settled back down next to me.

He glanced over at me and then back up at the sky. He didn't say anything. I had a feeling that he had felt obligated to give me his cloak. Maybe it made him feel better, I don't know. I adjusted it to fit right and finished plotting Andromeda, all the while trying to keep my eyes opened as I worked. I had finished Andromeda and began looking for Pisces as I had realized that Remus' cloak smelt very nice. Was he cold? Why did he smell so nice?

I jerked my eyes opened and found that the only light lighting the tower was the moon. My neck was hurting. And then I panicked as I began looking for my chart and quill. I looked next to me to find Remus had lay down, but propped himself up on his elbow when he saw me looking around.

"Where- What?" I started to ask, suppressing a yawn.

He sat up and pulled my bag towards him and gave me my chart. I took it and examined it.

It was finished.

"Did you…?"

I looked over at him, my heart somewhere between my throat and my ears. He did a half-shrug.

"It was nothing," he said. "You fell asleep."

"I did?"

This made him laugh.

"Yes. Yes you did. I started telling you something and looked over when you didn't respond. Out like a light. So… I figured it would only be nice and all…."

"You didn't have to, y'know… I could have finished it myself."

"No. By the time I had realized you were asleep, I was almost finished."

He stood up and picked up his bag and drew it over his shoulder.

"Should we head back to the common room now?"

I put my chart away and carefully stood, trying not to trip on the cloak that was much too big for me. We walked back to the common room in silence. We didn't even get harassed by Peeves, which was a blessing. Nor did we see Filch. The Fat Lady yawned and asked us why we were still awake and doing out in the corridor. We didn't answer, but walked into the common room.

Before heading up the stairs, I stopped and turned to Remus.

"Thanks, again, for finishing that for me…."

He gave me a small smile.

"It's no problem, really."

I nodded, trying to think of something else to say. We were just standing at the bottom of the two staircases. He turned as if to head up the staircase, only to turn around again to look at me.

"It was a favour because you reminded me," he said, a little coolly. He turned with that and went up the stairs, disappearing into the darkness.

I climbed the stairs to my dormitory slowly. I tried to reason with myself about how cold the last statement was or if it wasn't meant to be that harsh. It certainly seemed harsh.

I changed into my nightgown, throwing his cloak on the chair. As soon as I hit the pillow, I was out.

The next day, Remus didn't show up for any of his classes. I didn't worry too much. James had turned in Remus' work for Astronomy and Herbology. I had given James a look as I saw him do it, but he ignored me. One of these days I was going to figure it all out.

I skipped dinner that night to work on my potion. One of the house elves, Finch (my personal favourite) had brought me down a plate of some dinner. He bowed as he left to let me get on with business.

I chopped up some larkspur blossoms and set them aside. I carefully measured them to make sure it was the right amount I needed. Larkspur was highly poisonous, especially in large quantities. Like nutmeg, only not a common spice.

When I had an adequate amount of larkspur, I searched for my peppermint when I heard a knock at the door.

Angry that I can't have peace and quiet (the last thing I want is Peeves to come down here and destroy everything), I went to the door and opened it. It was Lily.

I was half-tempted to shut the door in her face, but she looked flustered.

"Are you okay?" I asked, trying not to be harsh, folding my arms across my chest.

She sighed deeply, her head hanging low.

"I know you're mad at me," she said quietly.

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" I asked, keeping my gaze stern.

"You stopped talking to me…."

The tone of her voice made me drop my arms to my sides as she looked up at me. Her eyes were glistening and bloodshot. She had been crying.

"What happened?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

"I just don't want you to be mad at me because Remus has been talking to me."

I swallowed, trying to hold back anger.

"What d'you mean 'talking'?" I couldn't keep my voice from shaking.

"Not like that!" she panicked. "He's been worried that… that you're afraid of him and that you don't ever want to talk to him again."

I pondered on that while she sniffed silently. Still, I thought, as she realized I wasn't going to answer and left me alone, if she was telling the truth, it didn't make me feel any better.

Sighing, I packed away my things and locked the door and went back to the common room to work on my History of Magic essay. James and the others weren't in the common room, making it unreasonably quiet. I picked a table by a window and cracked it open, regardless of the chill. I sat there and wrote until about two in the morning, getting snatches of the wolf out in the forest howling.


	9. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8._

(Some stuff here, of course. Um… Check old Ch. 7 for what to do. James needs to have a heart-to-heart with his cousin…. And then we'll move on into that down there. )

The following week, I received a letter from my mother. I read it fast, not taking in much of it. It was mainly asking me about my Charms work and if I was receiving tutoring and the like. She also asked if I was going to be coming home for Christmas. But, with the rate that the Potion is going, I was going to be staying at Hogwarts for holiday. I told myself that I would reply to her later, possibly, and hurried off to Transfiguration.

When the bell signalled for lunch, I hurriedly packed my bag and left the Transfiguration classroom. I met with Di out in the corridor and we walked down to the Great Hall together. As we were coming down the stairs, I told her that Mother had written me a letter and she laughed.

"Well, what're you going to do about it?" she asked.

"Probably write back, telling her I'm staying here for holiday," I laughed.

"Sounds like an idea…."

"So… What about you and Sirius? Everything okay?"

She sighed and stopped on the stairs.

"Yeah, I guess. I just don't know what to do about him."

"Hmm." I looked at her as she recomposed herself and set her shoulders straight.

"C'mon. I'm hungry."

We pushed through some second years as we landed into the entrance hall. I stopped as she kept going. Something had caught my eye.

There they were; the two of them in a reclusive spot of the hall, quietly talking. I know I shouldn't have thought anything of it, but I did. Lily's back was to me, but Remus had looked over her shoulder and seen me. He quickly looked away, mentioned something to Lily and walked off in the opposite direction.

"Sal?" Di asked quietly, taking hold of my hand. "Let it go, honey. C'mon. You can sit with me today."

I let her steer me away to the Great Hall where I sat at the Hufflepuff table and quietly ate my lunch. Di didn't try talking me out of my rut. After lunch, I left the Great Hall and went out onto the grounds. I tried to think of something else to take my mind off of Remus and Lily. They weren't snogging or anything, but the way they were talking, as if they were passing secrets, really bothered me.

I sat under a leaf-less tree and began to think of Dad. A lingering memory played in my head. I could see him just now, in his work room with all his potion stuff bubbling, the sounds and the smells. He would sit at the desk, with test tubes of samples out in front of him, his moose brown hair all in a mess because he would rub his hands through it and grab it, frustrated that nothing was going as planned. He would be wearing one glove on his right hand and his left hand would hold his pen. He didn't use quills. "They're messy and get in the way because you have to keep refilling the ink," he told me once in his growly voice. "The Muggles had it right to invent an ink pen, much cleaner and less hassle." His bright eyes would smile down at me as he would scratch my head and ask me to help him brew things. His big cauldron in the corner would generally have a lid on it, rattling as something would be boiling inside of it. He lifted the lid once to let me have a whiff of it: it smelled awful. This was all during the time when he and Mum were fighting. And then he was dead.

I pulled out Mother's letter and read it over again.

"Is that from your mum?" came a familiar voice from behind me.

"Yeah," I answered, not bothering to look. I already knew who the voice belonged to.

"What words of wisdom does she have to say?"

"Nothing too much." I handed him the letter, finally looking at James.

He read it and then handed it back, a small smile on his face.

"I'm assuming you're not going home for Christmas this year?" he asked, leaning back.

"No, if the way this potion is brewing…."

"How is that, by the way?"

"It's alright. Just slow. I'm wanting it to get done." I smiled, seeing Dad's face in my mind. "I was thinking about Dad when you came by," I added quietly, staring out into the lake.

"I figured you were mad. I asked Di and she said something really pissed you off. Didn't think you were thinking about Uncle Greg."

We sat silently for a few moments. The chill of November was starting to get to me, but having James here was nice as well.

"Let's go back inside. I don't want to be out here anymore than I have to."

He took my hand and helped me up. And we walked back into the castle.

At dinner, I noticed that Remus wasn't there. I tried not to dwell on it, but ended up not eating much at all. James kept looking at me, afraid, I assume, to ask me if I was okay or what was exactly wrong with me. When I ate what I wanted to, I stood up and left the Great Hall.

I stopped when I saw Remus coming down the stairs from the entrance hall. Swallowing hard, I looked away and focused my direction on the dungeons. Might as well go down there and work on my potion some more, I thought to myself.

Though, by the time I had reached the entrance to the dungeons, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked and was surprised.

"Fancy some company?" Remus asked, quietly. His cheeks looked slightly pink as if he was embarrassed.

I shrugged.

"Sure. It's rather boring."

Remus followed me down to Dungeon 7, where I pulled out a key and unlocked the door. He wrinkled his nose as we stepped in and closed the door. I put my gloves on and lifted the lid to the larger of the two cauldrons. The murky green liquid told me it was almost time to add in some wolfsbane solution. It smelt something awful.

"Are you sure you don't mind the smell?" I asked, jokingly, turning around to face him, trying to hide my frustration, which failed miserably. He had sat down at the work table, his book bag on the floor by his feet. He managed a pained smile.

"I don't mind. What was in that cauldron?" he asked, nodding to it.

"The lacefly wings and the willow bark," I sighed. "It's almost about time to add in the wolfsbane, which I'm almost petrified to use. You know how poisonous this is?" I pointed to the yellow buds of the plant. "One of these flowers could kill a grown man if it isn't brewed correctly."

He looked shocked.

"Really?" He looked around me and noticed the smaller cauldron on the work bench behind me. "Is that where the wolfsbane is?"

I walked over to it and checked the burner. He came up and stood next to me. And even though the wolfsbane had a very strong stench, he smelt amazing.

"Here, I'll show you." And I lifted the lid.

Inside, the water (which was really now highly poisonous) was clear with the slight bubbles of boil, and three bright yellow flower buds were floating on top. Remus let out a sound of awe as he looked at them.

"It's hard to believe that those could kill someone," he muttered, not taking his eye off of them.

I looked at the flowers. "I just put them in the other day. They haven't been able to properly blanch yet. I have to make sure I don't touch the water." I put the lid back on and turned the heat back up on the burner. "I especially can't breath in the vapour of it boiling. I would have a serious sinus infection that would take weeks to cure."

I looked up at him to see his expression, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere because he wasn't looking at me, but at the window. I felt the atmosphere get tenser than it already was.

"Sorry about last week," he said quietly.

I was startled by his sudden change in demeanour. I shrugged with a small smile.

"Oh, it's okay."

"No," he said, shaking his head, still not gazing at me. "It's not…. I… Well, James had a talk with me… multiple talks with me… about how it was just plain stupid. Even Lily had to talk to me… Even though I still don't know what's going on…."

I stared at my cauldron as he looked at me. I pulled the gloves off my hands and rested them on the table.

"What d'you mean what's going on?" I asked softly, trying to hold tears. I didn't want to break down.

"The boggart," he said more bluntly than he could have. I should have prepared for this.

"Well," I stumbled, trying to think of the right thing to say. "I was having a terrible day and it just sorta happened…. I…. I'm not afraid of you, if that's what you're worried about. I've already told James."

He gave a slight nod.

"I know you've talked to him. He wouldn't tell me unless you said he could."

"That's James for you." I sighed. "So, what's going on with you and Lily?" I couldn't hide the anger in my voice.

Remus seemed taken aback by this.

"There's nothing going on. She's a great friend…but, no. There's nothing. I used to fancy her, yeah, but then I backed off because of Prongs and I just don't want to get in the middle of that…."

I looked at him finally, my face cooling off some.

"So what have you two been talking about?"

His eyes went blank as he must have been thinking of something to say.

"She's been helping me figure out what I should do…"

I put my hands on my hips, but kept silent to hear him finish his statement.

"…Such as how I should…talk to you about this…."

"About what? The boggart?"

He shook his head, his face, turning pinker and pinker.

"James even told me at one point to man up and to stop always thinking so much," he said quickly, as if frustrated with himself.

This made me laugh a little.

"I think you're manly enough," I said with a small shrug. "But, yes, sometimes you need to be a little spontaneous."

He gave me a look.

"I can be spontaneous."

I stared him down, ignoring my rushing heart and trying my hardest to not give him a smile, to be as serious as I possibly could.

"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows some.

He looked away at the wall, a smile creeping into his face as he chuckled under his breath.

"See!" I pointed out. "You're thinking again."

He laughed, shaking his head.

"Don't think about whatever it is you're thinking about."

"Just do it?"

"Yes. Just do it. If it means turning around and walking out of here, then fine. Means you're working on impulse and not over-thinking the situation here."

His grey eyes shone as he took a step closer to me, making up his mind. I tried giving him my best straight face but couldn't help the little smile that curled into my expression. My heart pounded as he took his hand in mine, and set another on my face, putting his fingers through my hair, setting chills down my spine. Instinct told me this was okay, so I went with it. He leaned down turning his head a bit to the side, pulling me gently closer to him. I closed my eyes right as his lips touched mine. We held each other close as our lips parted.

After a few moments (or maybe an hour, who knows) we parted. Remus gave a small chuckle as he pressed his forehead against mine. I looked at him and saw him looking at me. He smiled.

"How's that for spontaneous?" he whispered, kissing my forehead softly.

"Wonderful," I answered, hugging him.

He laughed and rocked me back and forth slightly, still chuckling softly to himself. I smiled, trying to think about what he would be laughing at. He was probably thinking about how he was going to tell James and Sirius. Or that he did something he never thought he would… I don't know why he never would have anyway. He's pretty good.

"Want to go back to the common room?" he asked, stepping away and holding my hand. Blimey, did he look happy.

I nodded.

"Yeah, I need to work on my charms' homework…"

He let go of my hand and grabbed my bag for me, and swinging it over his shoulder, he opened the door.

"I could help you with that."

I laughed as he closed the door when I was in the corridor. I locked the room. We climbed the stairs to go back to the common room, holding hands the whole way.

_Thanks for being patient while I get the ball rolling here! I will still be editing some things, but at least now it all makes some sort of sense and there's some kind of like 'plot-line'. Let me know! _


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

It was strange at first. We were getting so many reactions. Apparently is was unknown that Remus liked me or that I like him, and for people to see us together was simply mind-blowing. Or maybe I was always oblivious to it all. That was probably it. I was pretty oblivious to most everything except what happens in Slug Club and in my dungeon.

November went by like November. There was the Slytherin-Gryffindor match, in which Gryffindor won. James had scored maybe five goals before Jeffery Jakes caught the Snitch. And then Remus got sick again the first week of December. Di was especially busy with Quidditch practice, so I hardly ever saw her around, and when I did it was just a few hellos and goodbyes (besides the fact we had Herbology together). Lily and I, however, made a regular schedule to meet up twice a week to work on Charms and Transfiguration for me. When Lily came down with the flu, I wanted to cancel lessons (for obvious reasons, I wasn't getting very far), but Lily insisted I continue.

I left the hospital wing, groaning because Madam Pomfrey said I couldn't see Lily, but she wanted to let me know about lessons. And Remus already volunteered for the position.

I sat down at one of the tables in the common room and took out my Transfiguration book and set my wand on top of it. I slouched back in the chair and folded my arms across my chest. I didn't move when I felt a pair of hands give my shoulders a good squeeze.

"Don't look so cheerful, Sal," Remus chuckled, leaning down and pecking me on the cheek. He came around the table and sat across from me, sliding my book towards him. He opened it and skimmed through some of the pages. He looked tired as usual.

"Shall we?" he asked, not looking at me, but grinning all the same.

Rolling my eyes I huffed.

"Yeah, so get on with it already."

He chuckled lightly.

"You don't actually care to make good marks on your Transfiguration exams, d'you?" he asked after some time when I kept failing to turn a feather into a pencil. It looked like some kind of mushy goo spreading slowly on the table. At least nothing was on fire… Not yet.

I glared at him, a little frustrated with myself. It was embarrassing enough not being able to do simple magic, but to have Remus see me falter about…. It just wasn't appealing.

He just smiled warmly at me, obviously not concerned about my being mad at him for trying to help me.

"Take it easy, Sal. It's okay to mess up, you should know." The look he gave me was reassuring. "Think about what it is the feather"—which he flicked his wand at the goo and turned it back into a feather—"should look like. It's just concentration."

"Which I lack."

He laughed.

"No, you definitely have concentration. You've been concentrating on that potion, which is probably why this turned into slime."

I nodded, realizing I had been thinking about the damn wolfsbane again. I set my wand on the table and rested my head in my hand.

"I'm just not cut out for wand magic," I muttered angrily.

He reached across the table and took my left and. He interlocked our fingers.

"I think you're just been hard on yourself. Potions takes just about as much magic as working a wand."

I gave a slight nod.

"There's just pressure from Mother about David always making high marks in Charms and Transfiguration and how I'm just a failure because I can't do anything." There were only a few moments in my life when I could talk about this in the tone that I used. I generally tried not to look weak.

He looked at me quizzically. I also started to see where this conversation was headed and could feel my heart racing in my throat.

"Does she not care about your Potions mark?" he asked, quietly, giving my hand a firm squeeze.

I shook my head, somber.

"No, she thinks it's useless. That I need to do something 'proper' with my life beside wild fantasies about brewing potions."

"But your dad was good in Potions, right? I remember you mentioning something about that…"

I nodded

"Yeah, he was. Taught me more than I think he thought he ever did."

I dropped my voice and licked my lips.

"Dad wasn't normal," I whispered. He leaned closer to me, looking at me with those eyes of his. "He… Well… He was different. I didn't find out about it until much later, actually…" I sighed, trying to put together the words in my head. "He used to work on Potions a lot, but after our camping trip when he got hurt, he became obsessed with it. And that's when he started to teach me. David had no interest in it whatsoever." I looked away at the tapestry hanging from the wall, not really seeing it. Remus's thumb was stroking my hand softly. Deciding quickly that I should continue telling him the story, I did.

"Dad went off some ways into the woods to get some more firewood, telling David to watch me. He was gone only maybe, if memory serves right, fifteen minutes. I screamed when I heard the yells and the howl. David covered my mouth with his hand and told me to shush. I got quiet, listening, looking at David and then back to where Dad had disappeared into the woods."

Remus's jaw dropped a little. His hand felt rather warm now. And clammy. He had tightened his grip a little more.

"Mother found out later, when they were having an argument, I think. Dad told me he was making himself a cure…" A tear escaped my eye and slowly fell down my cheek. "He… he said he got bit by something that… that no one had a cure for yet… And he was going to make it."

Remus looked down at the table, releasing his grip on my hand, and letting his fall into his lap. He sighed heavily.

"So, that's what you've been working on?" he mumbled, almost so quiet that I could barely hear him. He didn't look at me, but a thin line appeared between his eyebrows. He was doing some serious thinking.

I nodded.

"Mhmm." I sniffed and blinked away a few tears. He probably thinks I'm mad now, I thought, angrily at myself. But he was going to have to figure out one of these days why I'm cooped up in the dungeon all day long.

"Was he a werewolf?" he asked, his voice still low.

I snapped my concentration back at him My lack of reaction was all he needed.

"Huh," was all Remus did.

I grimaced.

"Ok, enough of this sad, depressing talk," I said, perking my demeanor and standing up. "We need to go and do rounds at some point tonight." I began to pack away my book when Remus gave me a cocky grin, something he must have picked up from Sirius.

"You mean, go find a place to hide away from everyone here in the common room?"

I slung my bag over my shoulder and gave him a look, crossing my arms.

"What did you have in mind, Lupin?" I asked, a smile escaping my serious face.

He gave a half shrug, looking over to the side and smiling.

"Nothing… Just doing rounds…"

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Why would we have to hide anywhere? We could just go up to your dormitory."

He looked at me, faking to be shocked.

"How could you even suggest that, Sallie? That's just outright against the rules."

"Your friends say rules are made to be broken."

He rolled his eyes, grinning.

"If you say so," he said and, plucking up some courage, stood up and kissed me in the middle of the common room.

"Well, what about a spectacular Christmas party, for those of us that are here?" Mary MacDonald asked as we sat in various chairs in the Slug Club room. The whole Club was here: Ravenclaws Kevin and Mackenzi Maestro; Gryffindors Mary, Lily, Patricia McKinness and Matthew Thompson; Hufflepuffs Lucy Travini, and Jacob Peppers; and Slytherins John Lefervian and Regulus Black. The eleven of us. Kevin and Lucy were in their last year, with Jacob being the youngest as a fourth year. Patricia, Matthew, and Regulus were fifth years; and Mackenzi, Mary, Lily, John, and I were sixth years. Slughorn has mentioned before that this is the biggest this group has ever been. But he only chooses people he sees as possibly influential or powerful. "I mean, I do know that some of us are definitely staying…."

She glanced at me and at the other Gryffindors.

Kevin Procterson grimaced.

"A Christmas party? Generally we have a dinner here. What are you thinking, Mary?"

John gave him a look.

"I like Mary's idea. It's different, much like the Halloween ball being Mackenzie's idea."

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"And we saw how that turned out," he mumbled, looking over at her. She gave him a look.

"You just don't like new ideas, _Kevin_," she retorted.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I like new ideas, just not _stupid_ ones."

I shut my notebook with as loud of a clap that I could.

"Enough bickering," I snapped. Everyone looked at me. It wasn't uncommon for me to have to do this. Everyone looked at me.

"You do know that Slughorn calls these events 'parties', yes?" Patricia said, her voice calming a little, but still giving Kevin the evil-eye. "I mean, I'm not going to go all out about what we should argue about or not, it's just that I see no sense in arguing over it."

Lucy nodded.

"Kevin," she said, tucking her curl brown hair behind her ear, "just open up your ears for once to knew things." She gave him a warm smile. "And stop making a fuss about everything…."

There was a murmur of agreement as he slumped in his chair in defeat.

I rolled my eyes and saw Regulus sitting back in the darkest chair, his face somber. He was staring in to the fire, lost in thought it looked.

"Well, I guess we can discuss this stuff later." Kevin stood up and yawned, stretching his arms, which was completely fake. He didn't like losing to all of us. "It's getting late. We all better get to bed."

Chatter started as everyone began to leave. Regulus, however, remained where he was.

Lily came up to me.

"C'mon, Sal. We need to work on your charms a bit before bed," she laughed, trying to joke around.

I looked at her and stood up, tucking my book into my bag and strapping it over my shoulder.

"I really hate that class," I laughed back. I looked again at Regulus, who sat as still as ever. Lily followed my gaze.

"You think it's about what I think it is?" Lily whispered as we left the room with him in it.

When we got to the staircase and began climbing did I answer her.

"I think so. I wonder if Di told Sirius and if Sirius yelled at him, or Di yelled at Regulus and now Regulus is upset."

Lily shrugged.

"Not much we can really do about it," she said. "I wish we could…."

I nodded.

Silently we continued our way up to the common room and took the seats closest to the fire. Lily took out her Charms' book as I decided that maybe I should get to work on my Arithmancy homework. We worked on our various subjects silently, until our precious silence (mind you, we weren't paying attention to the mindless chattings of some third year girls, gossiping about boys) was disturbed by Peter and James.

They took seats near us and began a conversation on their own. Lily looked at me and rolled her eyes, sighing heavily as she buried her nose back into her book. I put down my pencil and took a glance at my cousin. He looked at me and winked.

"You staying here, Sal?" he asked. Apparently my looking at him meant he could talk.

"For Christmas?"

He nodded, adjusting his glasses, glancing over my shoulder at Lily before answering me.

"Yeah."

I shrugged.

"I don't think so. I think I need to stay here and mind my potion over break. Don't want anyone messing with it."

James laughed.

"You don't trust anyone, d'you?"

"I do to trust people. I just don't trust you!" I laughed.

He gave a cocky grin, knowing I was joking with him, and then focused on Lily.

"You staying here, Evans?"

She rolled her eyes in disgust, not looking at him.

"No. I'm going home, _Potter_," she sneered, shutting her book and standing up.

"Oh, well, damn."

And with that, Lily said good night to me and went up to the dormitory, leaving me with James and Peter.

"What about you?" I asked, ignoring Peter's laughter, and turning back to James after watching Lily climb the stairs. "Are you going home?"

I could see a light in James' eye flicker out as he gave a nod.

"Yeah," he said, trying to hide something in his voice. "But Wormtail's staying, I think…." He looked over at Peter, who gave him a nod.

"Yeah, I'm staying here. Mum said it didn't matter to her if I came home or not. Thought I'd keep Moony company."

James nodded as if he agreed or even understood that. He grinned at me.

"So, you and Moony going to get lucky this holiday?" he asked, winking.

I gave him a disgusted look.

"And what, pray tell, did you have mind?" I asked, leaning back and folding my arms across my chest.

"Y'know…. Hanky-panky."

He and Peter laughed as I gave them a sly smile.

"That's none of your business, _Prongs_."

James rolled his eyes, that grin of his never leaving his face.

"Moony'll never do that to my little cousin."

"I'm only a month younger."

"Still, you're my little cousin." He stuck his tongue out childishly.

"I dunno, Prongs," piped in Peter, "I think you should be worried about her doing something to Moony…."

James looked at him.

"Sallie will never!"

I had to laugh at them and roll my eyes.

Peter yawned.

"Alright, I'm headed off to bed. 'Night." And he got up and went up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

James turned back to me and his expression fell.

"You and your mum having problems again?" he asked, getting up to sit next to me on the sofa. He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at me.

I sighed.

"When are we not?"

He snorted.

"True. You tell her that you had a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I did. And in her letter back she wanted details and all sorts of other stuff. How come my mother seems to be the one with the pure-blood ideals?"

He shrugged.

"To be different from Dad, I s'pose."

He looked away into the fire, his hands nervously rubbing each other.

"James?" I asked quietly, looking at him. "Is everything okay?"

"Mum's sick…" he said almost too quietly.

"Again? She's been getting sick a lot lately…"

He nodded.

"Dad seemed upset in the last letter he sent. I dunno what to do."

I sighed.

"Going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" I asked gently.

He shrugged.

"Maybe. Could get Mum a present, just don't know if it would matter much."

I hit him in the arm.

"Don't say that! You're acting as if she's going to die!"

He slouched back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Dad was putting it that way. The Healers don't know what to do, he said. That there wasn't anything they could do…."

I didn't take my eyes off of him. He continued to look up at the ceiling, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. I put my arm around him. He fell into it and rested his head on my shoulder and cried.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Christmas holiday had begun. Everyone was busily getting out of the castle, doing the trek through the snow to the carriages to get to the train station. Except of course me and a few other students who had decided to stay here for holiday. I pushed my way through the throng of people getting checked off a list of Filch's just to get to the Great Hall for a late breakfast. I was in a bad mood.

I had woken up early this morning to check the willow bark that I was steeping with the lacefly wings. But when I had gotten down to the dungeon, the door was unlocked and cracked open. Fearing the worst, I opened the door to find that the dungeon was a mess. My three cauldrons were all tipped over. The lacefly wings and willow bark, the larkspur and frog spawn, and worse the Wolfsbane brew were all spilt. Tears began to weld up in my eyes as I fumed. I cursed out loud. No one but me and Professor Slughorn had access to this room. I looked around for any more damage. My plants were all wilted, my flasks and beakers shattered. Even my books were scattered about the room, some of them even in the potion spill.

I tried my best to clean what I could up with a mop and broom. The hot tears fell from my face as I picked up my Potion's book from the murky waters of the larkspur and frog spawn mixture.

I got so tired of looking at it all that I washed my hands and angrily left, locking the door and making sure it was locked.

Some students were all hugging one another wishing good-byes and Happy Christmases. I sat at the Gryffindor table and took a napkin and dried the tears off of my face.

"Hey!" exclaimed Lily, coming to sit next to me and grabbing a roll. "Saw you woke up early… Oh," she said, noticing my face, "what happened?"

"Someone got into my dungeon and ruined everything," I growled, keeping my voice down. I stared at my empty plate, clenching my jaw.

Lily huffed.

"Who d'you think did it?" she asked, her voice dropping too.

"Probably someone who is pissed off at me about something…."

"Why? I don't see any reason unless they think you're doing something down there that you shouldn't be doing…."

"I have permission from Professor Slughorn to be working down there!" I nearly yelled. I took a deep breath and gave her a reassuring look. "I'm sorry. I don't have any reason to yell at you…. You didn't do anything…."

She smiled, her green eyes sparkling.

"It's okay," she sighed. "I'm used to it by now. Your fuse is shorter than mine at times. Anyway"—she hugged me—"I best be off. I'll send you a card and your present. Have a Happy Christmas, Sal." She held me at a distance and lowered her voice. "I'll do what I can to find out who did this to you. In the mean time, just stay calm. Ya got that?"

I gave her a weak smile, sniffing.

"Yeah…. I got it."

"Good!" She hugged me again before getting up. "See you soon, love!"

"'Bye!"

I watched her walk out of the Great Hall, catching a glimpse of Snape watching her with sad eyes before sighing to himself and turning back to the Slytherin table. He knew what I was doing in the dungeon, but I don't think it would have been him.

The boys made their merry way into the Great Hall and took seats around me. James was hiding behind a happy grin, Sirius egging him on about something. Remus sat next to me, and Peter on the other side of James. Remus put his arm around me and gave me a half hug.

"How are you this morning?" he asked, giving me a small peck on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes, shook my head, and heaved a sigh.

"Not so lovely as I would have wished."

Sirius looked at me.

"Whaddya mean, Carty? You looked God-awful."

"Thanks, _Blacky_, for that blunt statement on my looks."

He shrugged.

"Well, he is right," Remus said carefully. "What's wrong?"

I heaved a sigh as the four of them looked at me.

"Hurry up, Sal. Sirius and I have to leave soon," James said, sticking a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth and swallowing.

I told them what happened this morning. Sirius gawked, a piece of roll sticking to his lip. James glared behind his glasses, Peter clenched his jaw, and Remus hit the table with his fist. I jumped.

"Bastard," Remus growled.

"I bet you I know who did it," James added angrily and confident.

"Who?" I asked, wiping away a tear.

"Snivellus."

"I don't think Severus would do anything. He'd have no reason to."

"Well, we'll try to figure something out," Sirius reassured, standing up. "But Prongs and I need to head to the train."

"Nah, let's make a late entrance."

I suppressed the urge to glare.

"Sal, we'll help you figure it out," James said, not smiling at me, his tone serious. "Have a good holiday."

"You too." I smiled weakly. "Say hi to Aunt Dorea and Uncle Charlus for me.

James's eyes went sad, as Sirius gave him a sorrowful glance.

"Will do."

And with a few Happy Christmases, James and Sirius left to go home.

Peter looked up and down the table.

"Doesn't look like many people are staying this holiday…."

I looked. There were a few Gryffindors, maybe about ten in total sitting. It seemed that way with the other houses. It could be that some of those students lost their parents to You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters.

Remus finished off his pumpkin juice before looking at the two of us.

"Should we help you clean up the dungeon?"

I sniffed.

"That would be lovely."

The three of us got up and went down to my dungeon. I unlocked the door and stepped inside and stood in the middle of the room to soak in the mess. Peter gasped and Remus growled.

"Who in the world would do this…?" Peter asked as he looked in one of the tipped cauldrons.

"I dunno. But I cleaned up some of the potions themselves," I answered, going to a cabinet and taking out some gloves. I handed a pair to Peter and to Remus. "You may want to wear these just in case…."

"Just in case of what?" Peter asked, his face in shock.

"There's broken glass and poisonous liquids all over the floor. Don't need anyone going up to the hospital wing."

Remus put on his gloves and took his wand out of his pocket. He gave it a flick and most of the broken glass off the floor and around the room lifted up and repaired itself. One shattered remnant had not been so lucky.

"Wonder why that is…" Remus muttered, walking over to inspect some of the fragments. It was a vial that had been broken that I had acquired from Professor Slughorn. I didn't notice it before. Dark red liquid surrounded it, fizzing slightly. Blood.

"What's that?" Peter asked, putting down a rag and coming over to inspect as well.

I stood behind them.

"It's blood. Magic won't work on it."

Remus didn't look, but Peter did.

"Blood?"

I shifted nervously on my feet.

"I was going to experiment with adding blood to it to see what it would do," I explained quietly, keeping my head down. "Dad had written something in his notes about the possibility of using a certain type of blood in the potion. He used some of his blood in a potion he gave to David and I when we were kids, at least, I think he did…."

"Isn't blood in a potion supposed to be taboo?" Peter asked, glancing at Remus for the answer.

He shrugged.

"It could be why someone wanted to destroy all of this."

"That doesn't make sense, though," I pondered. "No one knew about the blood except Professor Slughorn, Professor Dumbledore, and myself."

"Did Slughorn have to get Dumbledore's permission for it?" Remus asked, standing up finally and tucking his wand away. Peter stood up too.

"Yes…" I went and got a damp rag and began mopping up the mess. The rag turned red with the blood. My own fumed. Professor Slughorn went to great lengths to get me this blood and now it was all gone.

"How come you couldn't fix it, Moony?"

"I dunno," Remus answered Peter.

As I was taking the last swipe, a piece of glass caught my finger. I winced at the pain, but didn't freak out as much as a normal person would have. I stood up and went to the sink. I dropped the rag into the bottom and began cleaning out my cut with some water. When I was finished I grabbed a clean, dry rag and dried my hands. I turned back around to them.

"It's because that blood can't be touched with magic."

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"So is that why Slughorn needed permission from Dumbledore?"

I nodded.

"I did too, actually. Last week I got the okay to use it. And I was going to hopefully have it all finished this holiday and possibly have the chance to finally test it on a few lab rats injected to see what it would do. But now I can't. And it sucks."

"Injected with what?" Peter asked.

"I can't really say... But I wasn't going to be testing it here. I was to go to St. Mungo's to test it."

"Just to be safe, I assume?" Remus asked, putting a hand in his pocket.

"Yeah. Don't need any rabid rats running around, do we?" I forced a laugh.

Peter actually did laugh at it. Remus chuckled giving his friend a look. Apparently that look said something to the both of them because they both just started laughing really hard. I stood there wanting to ask what was so funny, but kept it to myself. Instead I shook my head at them, giving the room a look. It wasn't anywhere near perfection as I would like it to have been, but I will have to inform Slughorn about what happened in here. I sighed (Remus and Peter were still laughing about something) as I walked over to the Wolfsbane plant that was now dead. Someone didn't want me working on that potion.

"So, who d'you think did it?" Remus asked, putting his arm around me.

It was Christmas Eve, finally a night where I could spend without Peter involved with Remus and I, since he wanted to go to sleep early. The Christmas party had been cancelled since most of the members went home to spend time with their families this holiday. But it benefitted me nicely meaning I didn't have to work on fixing decorations or anything to that nature. I had written to Slughorn telling him that the scheduled date for me to go to St. Mungo's will have to be cancelled due to something going wrong; I didn't tell him what had happened, exactly.

I curled into Remus's side, resting my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beat.

"I don't know," I whispered, staring into the fire, which was dying. "I've been trying not to think about it at all."

"Oh."

"Why? Have you thought about it at all?" I asked, looking up at him.

He kissed my forehead.

"Not too much. I have my theories, though…."

I sat up and looked at him.

"What would be your theories?"

He took my hand and held it.

"What kind of blood was it?" he asked, dropping his voice, giving me a very serious look.

I leaned back and played with his fingers. His own thumb rubbed the bandage I had on the cut from the glass.

I heaved a sigh, trying to find the words. For a second I didn't want to tell him, but another part of me told me I could trust him with the information.

"Werewolf blood," I answered quietly, praying that if anyone was in the Common room they wouldn't hear our exchange. "I don't know where or how Slughorn got it, and I didn't ask. Dumbledore must have known because he okayed it. He asked me why I needed it for my potion, and I told him that Dad had it in the ingredients' list with a question mark next to it. Almost as if he was wondering if it needed blood."

I looked at him, but he was looking into the fire, his face expressionless, except his eyebrows were furrowed some. He was thinking.

I continued. "Dumbledore approved of it after some deliberation and reading through some of my dad's things. He knew my dad when he was a student here, when Dumbledore was the Transfiguration teacher." I stifled a laugh. "Said something about having to give Dad detention since he never paid attention in class because he was always doodling around in his potion's book."

Remus gave a little laugh.

"Kinda what you do now." He looked at me and smiled. "No wonder why you're failing."

I dropped my jaw and glared.

"That is _not_ the reason!" I snarled.

He laughed.

"Then what is the reason?"

"My wand fails. Alright?"

He rolled his eyes, his smiling fading.

"Did anyone know about the blood besides Dumbledore and Slughorn?" he asked, making the conversation serious again.

I sighed and ragged my brain.

"I'm pretty sure not. Severus knows I'm working on a potion in there. He's quite angry about that since I… well, since he thinks that he has to compete with me."

He patted my head.

"I'm not going to be overly critical, but you are better than him. But that's to not boost your ego."

I giggled.

"Thanks a lot."

"No problem. But anyway, it could be because of that blood…."

I sighed, the sight of my dungeon still in ruins in my eyes.

Remus heaved a heavy sigh as well. He nudged me in the side.

"Want to get something from the kitchens?"

I glanced at him. He was smiling.

"Or, if the Three Broomsticks was open, we could go there…."

"We're _not_ sneaking out of the castle," I joked. "Kitchens are fine."

He stood up and held out his hand.

"C'mon then."

I took it and we headed to the kitchens.

The castle was quiet since no one was around. We did, however, catch Snape sulking around the first floor, looking like he was waiting for someone to come by. We gave each other a look and decided not to find out what was going on. When we arrived to the portrait of the bowl of fruit, Peeves was bouncing around the corridor. He saw us and a wicked grin crept onto his face.

He floated over to us and hung upside-down in the air, still grinning.

"What are you perfect Prefects doing?" he cackled.

"None of your business, Peeves," I said, raising my hand to the portrait to tickle the pear.

"Uh uh uh! I wouldn't do that, if I were you!"

I lowered my hand and crossed my arms. Peeves began to cackle even louder.

"And why shouldn't we?" Remus asked, not sounding very persuasive.

"You're not allowed in the kitchens!" Peeves snarled at him, pointing.

"Piss off, Peeves," I sneered. "You shouldn't be talking to Prefects like that."

"Perfect little Prefects! Loony, loopy Lupin and Carty-Warty!"

Remus clenched his jaw and angrily moved around me and tickled the pear, turning the handle when it appeared. The door opened and he stepped inside and waited for me. Peeves cackled, chanting "Loony, loopy Lupin and Carty-Warty!" all down the corridor, spinning in circles.

"He gets on my nerves," Remus growled, shutting the door behind me.

"Yep."

We were instantly greeted by some of the house-elves that were awake. One, whose name was Finch, bowed, his nose touching the floor.

"What can Finch do for young Remus and Miss Sallie?"

"To be quite frank, I'm actually kind of hungry," I said, a little quietly. "Is there any of that pie left from dessert?"

Remus snorted.

"Yes, Miss Sallie. Which pie could Finch get for you? There is the treacle tart, boysenberry pie, and pumpkin pie."

Finch looked up at me, his big blue eyes full of happiness. House elves are so cute.

"Boysenberry," I said with a sweet smile.

Finch bowed and went off to get a slice of pie for me.

Remus made a face.

"I was hoping you'd say pumpkin."

"What, so you could steal it?" I joked, poking him in the side. "I know you don't like boysenberry. With the way you were making that face at me at dinner."

He made a gagging noise with the thought of boysenberry.

"Well, I won't be snogging you."

"Sure you won't be! The only person in your dormitory is Peter, and he sleeps through anything, doesn't he?"

He gave me a sly look, as if he _had _actually been thinking about it.

"You do know James asked me if we were going to do it, right?" I asked as Finch handed me my pie slice.

Remus did a double take as Finch held him a slice of pumpkin pie.

"Asked you what?"

"If you and I… y'know…."

He coughed awkwardly as I said good-bye and thank-you to Finch for the pies. He bowed as we left, closing the door for us. We walked back to the common room and began to eat our pies. Remus, all the while, making gagging noises as I took bite after bite of mine.

I managed to make him kiss me after all. And I was right, Peter does sleep through anything. Of course, he had to stare at us when we finally woke up the next morning. It was more a look of shock than anything.

"You did _what _while I was sleeping?"

Remus looked at me all sleepy-eyed, and I rolled over and hugged him.

It was a wonderful night.

_I really hope you liked this. I actually have a mystery going on! Can you guess who did it? Super long, but there was no other choice. Continue checking in to see what happens next! Oh! And before you go and click "review this chapter" bare in mind, I did edit some chapters along the way… Redid them, a little bit. Just to make things flow better. Well, see you in Ch. 11!_


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